By Lilian H. Hill
This illustration shows Mandy as she prepares for work. Before she enters her workplace, she must change into protective gear that incorporates wearable technology to monitor her personal vital signs, augment her physical abilities, scrutinize the atmosphere, and alert her to dangers.
Industries like construction, warehousing, and manufacturing consistently report high rates of workplace injuries and fatalities. Across these sectors, common causes of injuries include overexertion, contact with equipment, and falls. To prevent injuries and fatalities, workplaces have embraced wearable technology to promote safety and worker well-being. From smart helmets and vests to biometric trackers and augmented reality glasses, these devices provide real-time feedback, risk prevention, and data-driven safety interventions. To realize the full potential of workplace wearables and avoid unintended harms, employers and employees alike must be equipped with information literacy. This blog explores how wearables and information literacy together form a powerful alliance for building safer, ethical, and more effective workplaces.
The Rise of Wearable Safety Technologies
Wearable technologies are smart, body-worn devices embedded with sensors that collect and transmit data on health, behavior, and environmental exposure. In high-risk sectors such as construction, mining, logistics, and manufacturing, wearables are already being used to:
- Monitor physiological signs like heart rate, temperature, and hydration to prevent heat stress and overexertion (Cannady et al., 2024).
- Detect environmental hazards, including gas exposure, excessive noise, or harmful vibrations (Turney, 2025).
- Alert users to poor posture or dangerous lifting behavior, reducing long-term risk of musculoskeletal disorders (de Looze et al., 2016).
- Enable fall detection and emergency response, especially for lone workers or remote job sites (Chander et al., 2020).
- Augment workers’ physical abilities by reducing strain, enhancing strength, and improving endurance during repetitive or physically demanding tasks. These include exoskeletons and assistive devices (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2024).
- Support social distancing or zone alerts, helping avoid collisions or entry into hazardous areas.
These tools shift safety from a reactive to a proactive model, enhancing situational awareness and reducing incident rates. Nevertheless, some challenges exist:
· Organizations may incur significant initial expenses when purchasing and implementing wearable technologies across the workforce (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2024).
· Meta-analyses of electronic performance monitoring studies reveal that monitoring may negatively affect worker well-being, leading to increased work stress and decreased job satisfaction (Glavin et al., 2024).
· Some employees perceive wearables as bulky, difficult to operate, or physically uncomfortable. For instance, research has noted that workers expressed concerns about the added weight and inconvenience associated with certain wearable devices (de Looze et al., 2016; U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2024).
· The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a fact sheet on December 19, 2024 titled Wearables in the Workplace: Using Wearable Technologies Under Federal Employment Discrimination Laws. It divided risks from wearables into three categories: collecting information from wearables; using information from wearables; and reasonable accommodations for wearables (O’Brien, 2025). As of July 24, 2025, that fact sheet is no longer available on the EEOC website.
The Role of Information Literacy
The integration of wearable technology with information literacy creates a powerful synergy that enhances workplace safety while empowering workers to engage critically with the technologies that monitor them. Their effectiveness depends on the user’s ability to interpret data accurately and act on it appropriately. Information literacy equips workers and supervisors with the skills to assess the reliability, relevance, and implications of the data collected, reducing the likelihood of misinterpretation or misuse (Glavin et al., 2024).
When workers understand how wearable data is collected, stored, and used, they are more likely to participate in safety initiatives with trust and agency. This helps shift the narrative from surveillance and control to transparency and collaboration. Informed workers can question unethical practices, ensure consent, and advocate for data protection policies, helping employers balance innovation with responsibility (Glavin et al., 2024).
Together, wearable tech and information literacy reduce risk and promote a culture of ethical decision-making and shared responsibility in the workplace. Here’s how:
1. Understanding What the Data Means
Wearables generate real-time biometric and environmental data. Without the ability to interpret it correctly, workers may misread alerts or overlook risk signals. Information literacy helps workers contextualize data and understand its implications.
For example, a spike in heart rate might indicate brisk movement or overexertion. Recognizing the difference prevents unnecessary panic or misreporting.
2. Questioning the Source and Use of Data
Information-literate individuals ask:
- What data is being collected?
- Who has access to it?
- How will it be used?
- How is it secured?
This is crucial when wearable data can inform safety interventions and performance reviews, insurance claims, or disciplinary actions (Donovan et al., 2022).
3. Ensuring Ethical Consent and Privacy
With biometric and location tracking often built in, wearables pose risks to worker privacy. Informed consent, central to ethical technology use, requires information literacy including the ability to read privacy agreements, understand surveillance implications, and make informed choices about participation.
4. Collaborating in a Data-Driven Culture
As employers increasingly rely on predictive analytics and AI-generated safety dashboards, information literacy prepares workers to:
- Recognize algorithmic bias
- Participate in safety decision-making
- Demand transparency in digital monitoring systems
Without these skills, workers may be passive subjects of surveillance, rather than active participants in shaping safe and equitable working conditions.
Moving Forward: A Dual Investment
To maximize the benefits of workplace wearables, organizations must invest not only in technology, but also in human skills. This means:
- Training workers and supervisors in information literacy principles
- Establishing transparent data governance policies
- Fostering participatory safety cultures, where workers help shape how data is used
By aligning wearable innovation with information literacy, we can move toward ethical, empowering, and truly smart safety systems.
References
Argento, Z. M., Kelley, B. J., O’Brien, S. P. (2025, January 2). EEOC fact sheet on wearable technologies indicates growing concern over employee monitoring. Littler. https://www.littler.com/news-analysis/asap/eeoc-fact-sheet-wearable-technologies-indicates-growing-concern-over-employee
Cannady, R., Warner, C., Yoder, A. Miller, J., Crosby, K., Elswick, D., & Kintziger, K. W. (2024), The implications of real-time and wearable technology use for occupational heat stress: A scoping review. Safety Science, 177, 106600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106600.
Chander, H., Burch, R. F., Talegaonkar, P., Saucier, D., Luczak, T., Ball, J. E., Turner, A., Kodithuwakku Arachchige, S. N. K., Carroll, W., Smith, B. K., Knight, A., & Prabhu, R. K. (2020). Wearable stretch sensors for human movement monitoring and fall detection in ergonomics. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(10), 3554. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103554
de Looze, M. P., Bosch, T., Krause, F., Stadler, K. S., & O'Sullivan, L. W. (2016). Exoskeletons for industrial application and their potential effects on physical work load. Ergonomics, 59(5), 671–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2015.1081988
Glavin, P., Bierman, A., & Schieman, S. (2024). Private eyes, they see your every move: Workplace surveillance and worker well-being. Social Currents, 11(4), 327-345. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294965241228874
Turney, T. (2025, March 25). Wearable tech: Safer workplaces of the future. Industrial Hygiene in the Workplace. https://industrialhygienepub.com/wearables/wearable-tech-safer-workplaces-of-the-future/
U.S. Government Accountability Office (2024, March
4). Wearable technologies in the workplace. GAO-24-107303. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-107303
