Man Down Situation Detection Using an in-Ear Inertial Platform

Man down situations (MDS) are a health or life threatening situations occurring largely in high-risk industrial workplaces. MDS automatic detection is crucial for workers safety especially in isolated working conditions where workers could be unable to call for help on their own, either due to loss of consciousness or an incapacitating injury. These solution must be reliable, robust, easy to use, but also have a low false-alarm rate, short response time and good ergonomics. This project aims to improve this technology by providing a global MDS definition according to a combination of three observable critical states based on characterization of body movement and orientation data from inertial measurements (accelerometer and gyroscope): the worker falls (F), worker immobility (I), the worker is down on the ground (D). The MDS detection strategy was established based on the detection of at least two distinct states, such as F-I, F-D or I-D, over a certain period of time. This strategy was tested using a large public database, revealing a significant reduction of the false alarms rate to 1.1%, reaching up to 99% accuracy. The proposed detection strategy was also incorporated into a digital earpiece, designed to address hearing protection issues, and validated according to an in vivo test procedure based on simulations of industrial workers normal activities and critical states.