- Project number: F 2629
- Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
- Status: Ongoing Project
- Planned end: 2029-02-28
Description:
Mental stress affects both the health of employees and the quality and duration of work processes. Valid measurement is therefore an important basis for humane work design and occupational health and safety.
As interactive technologies and assistive systems become more common in the workplace, the requirements for appropriate measurement methods are also changing. In the past, a few measurements taken at fixed intervals were sufficient. Modern systems, however, require more frequent measurements in real time – ideally while work is being performed. This is the only way to reliably determine how these dynamic technologies affect workloads.
The aim of the project is to investigate and further develop methods for measuring mental stress in the workplace using interactive technology and assistive systems. The focus is on the question of how mental stress – for example, due to fatigue, monotony, or mental saturation – can be measured as reliably and practically as possible. In a realistic, simulated production environment, tests are conducted with participants to determine:
- at what intervals the stress should be recorded,
- whether one-dimensional assessments are sufficient or whether several aspects need to be surveyed separately,
- and whether different forms of survey – such as tablet surveys or voice-based methods with AI support – deliver comparable results.
On this basis, the project contributes to the early detection of stress peaks, the prevention of overexertion, and the design of work processes that are both healthy and productive. The results can be used in the future as part of the risk assessment of mental stress.
The project is part of the joint project "Methodology for the development of a data-driven process time forecast for manual assembly systems of highly variable products". It is funded by the German Research Foundation and carried out in cooperation with Ruhr University Bochum.