Assessment of mental fatigue for enhancing occupational safety and health in construction

The job-related fatality rate in the construction industry is high as a result of multiple factors associated with the safety of workers. However, mental fatigue, a prominent factor affecting one’s hazard perception, from engagement in construction tasks and its effects on fall hazard has not been adequately studied. This thesis proposes a two-trajectory framework to assess mental fatigue using Electroencephalography (EEG). Primarily, Wavelet Packet Decomposition (WPD) was used to obtain energy in each brain wave, and seven mental fatigue indices including θ, α, β, α/β, θ/α, θ/β, and (θ + α)/β were calculated. Secondarily, sample entropy (SampleEn) values were calculated for groups under comparison to examine the results from the WPD. Results from the adopted method suggest that typical construction activities and height exposure can cause mental fatigue and reduce vigilance level in workers. It is essential to have a quantitative approach for continuous cognitive monitoring to enhance construction safety