McGill-led projects awarded $360,000 for occupational health and safety research in Quebec
Improving air quality and developing advanced health monitoring devices are the aims of research projects funded by the Robert Sauvé Research Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (IRSST)
McGill professors Sharmistha Bhadra and Caroline Wagner are the recipients of funding from the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST - Robert Sauvé Research Institute for Occupational Health and Safety) for research projects focused on improving health and safety for workers in the province of Quebec.
Sharmistha Bhadra, an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received a grant totalling $162,400 to develop and evaluate a personalized wearable device for people working in isolated environments. The device seeks to eliminate biases and inaccuracies inherent to other wearable devices. Prof. Bhadra will work with collaborating researchers from the IRSST. In total, $255,900 will be invested by the IRSST in the project.
Department of Bioengineering Assistant Professor Caroline Wagner is the recipient of $198,972 in funding to investigate how indoor air conditions affect the transmission of respiratory viruses in workplace settings. Collaborating with her on this project are Yves Longtin, Associate Professor of Medicine at McGill and researchers from Université de Laval, Université de Montréal, and MIT. The total project budget is $334,338. Prof. Wagner hopes that the findings from this study will form the basis of new and improved workplace safety guidance.
"Congratulations to Professors Caroline Wagner and Sharmistha Bhadra on securing IRSST funding for their innovative research projects, which are focused on protecting and improving the health and safety of workers across Quebec," said Dominique Bérubé, Vice-President, Research and Innovation. "Their work exemplifies McGill’s commitment to working collaboratively to address pressing issues, such as reducing the spread of infectious diseases, and making workplace safety devices more accessible."
Founded in 1980, the IRSST conducts and funds research activities in Québec aimed at eliminating risks to worker health and safety and at promoting worker rehabilitation. Fourteen projects in Quebec were funded by the IRSST, representing a total research investment in the province of $3.3 million.
Developing a portable device to make isolated work environments safer in Quebec
In various industrial sectors, workers often operate in isolation, creating safety risks due to the challenge of obtaining immediate assistance during emergencies. Although wearables with PPG (photoplethysmography) sensors are popular for their small form factor and comfort, their accuracy is compromised by factors such as skin tone, gender, age, physiological conditions, body movements, and ambient light. This makes them unsuitable for workplaces in Quebec, where the workforce is diverse, and workers engage in varying levels of physical activity under different lighting conditions.
The wearable developed by Bhadra’s team will provide accurate measurements of the user’s heart rate, breathing rate, blood oxygen saturation, and movement. The hardware of the wearable will be designed to eliminate biases—skin tone, gender, age, and physiological conditions—and an algorithm will be developed to remove the inaccuracy in health parameter measurements affected by the wearer's motion. The team will then validate the device in laboratory and field tests, aiming to provide a reliable monitoring system for isolated workplaces across multiple industries.
Evaluating the impact of indoor air on viral transmission in workplaces
Certain indoor work environments are particularly vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks. For example, meat processing plants were affected by large-scale outbreaks during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, including in the province of Quebec.
Wagner's team hypothesizes that indoor air conditions such as temperature and humidity influence the viability of respiratory viruses in mucous droplets emitted by infected individuals and can also affect the body's natural defenses. Their research will involve experiments using a rotating aerosol chamber to analyze the survival of viruses in different air conditions and characterization studies on mucous samples from participants in industries with specific and non-specific air environments.
The findings are expected to provide valuable insights into improving workplace safety, leading to practical recommendations for air quality management and reducing the spread of respiratory infectious diseases.
