Shoe Insoles Take a Stand Against Falls

Workplace slips, trips, and falls have long been a major concern for employers and employees alike, as they can result in serious injuries and costly accidents. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, falls are one of the leading causes of injuries and deaths in the workplace, accounting for over 15% of all worker fatalities in 2019.

The injuries that can result from falls may be severe and long-lasting, and can include broken bones, head injuries, spinal cord injuries, and even death. These injuries can lead to extensive medical treatment, lost wages, and long-term disability. In addition, employers may be liable for the costs of the injuries, which can include medical expenses, workers' compensation claims, and lawsuits.

Ideally, worker falls would be prevented before they ever happened, and many are through the use of proper equipment and by following safety procedures. But despite all of these precautions, the fact of the matter is that some falls will still occur. For this reason, employers must also work to recognize when someone has fallen so that action may be taken immediately. The sooner help can arrive, the better the outcomes will be. And even when the fall does not cause an injury, it can still be a sign that unsafe conditions may exist, and a signal that the employer should take some proactive steps to enhance worker safety.

A team of biomedical engineers at the National University of Singapore has put forth an interesting idea that may help to automate the detection and reporting of worker slips, trips, and falls in the near future. They have developed shoe insoles made of FlexoSense (a flexible substrate with embedded sensors originally developed by another team at the same university) that uses pressure sensors and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to recognize when the wearer has lost their balance or fallen.

When someone begins to lose their balance, their natural reaction is to exert pressure on their feet to try and regain control. These patterns of pressure are distinctive, and can be distinguished from normal activities like walking or standing using the smart insoles. Combined with motion data from the IMU, the researchers were able to determine if the person wearing the device fell down after losing balance. The IMU data can also recognize the difference between a fall from a height, and a fall on level ground, which can give some insight into the severity of the accident.

The insights gleaned from the system can be viewed by the wearer of the device on a smartphone app, and the employer can also see an aggregate view of accident-related data in a dashboard application. Since the data is provided digitally and in real-time, it can serve to make the reporting process quick and easy — maybe even automatic — instead of relying on manual reports from employees that may never be filed.

Looking ahead, the team sees uses beyond fall tracking. Since the smart insoles can also track activities like walking and running, they can also check for risky behaviors, like running in an area where that would be dangerous to do. This application, and more, should be practical to achieve since the insoles are made of a soft material that is comfortable to wear all day. If needed, custom insoles can even be created for each individual wearer via a process involving foot scanning and 3D printing.