Lesson 2 - Advanced materials for protective equipmen
ADVANCED MATERIALS FOR PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
Workplaces are not always safe. Actually, some of the existing jobs nowadays have several risky tasks that employees must face. That is why safety became a priority in the industry
in a transversal way, particularly in some sectors such as surface and underground mining, construction sites, power plants, factories, etc. [1]. For that, it is important to prevent workers from possible hazards that can end up generating several types of injuries such as thermal, biological, electrical, mechanical or chemical ones, which can act at the same time [2] in different parts of the human body (eye and face, head, foot and leg, hand and arm, body, and hearing [3]). The personal protective equipment (PPE) helps prevent those injuries by protecting the wearer. To sum up, PPE can and should be improved, for its goals to be achieved in a more effective and efficient way by the development and integration of sensor technologies in the workers’ clothing. This upgrade would provide a monitorization of workers’ health, exposure to harmful elements, their proximity to danger zones, among others [4]. Smart PPE can be organised into four different categories depending on the technology applied to them. On one side, the presence of electronics or not, and, on the other side, according to their data collection characteristics.
