Empowering Workers

Contextual Inquiry | Concept Testing | Usability Testing

Proper use of PPE isn’t always straightforward. Education and diligent practice of procedures are required for equipment to truly protect Workers. Using a 3M developed technology, I helped create a system that enforces proper use of PPE while empowering Workers to ensure their safety.

Impact

Changed the product intent

This solution is for users that operate in a clear hierarchy. Safety Managers are responsible for the safety of Workers. Because of this, the product development team originally wanted to create a surveillance tool for Safety Managers. Through user research, I eventually shifted the product intent to a system that empowered both Safety Managers and Workers to ensure safety.

Adjusted for environment

Environments that require PPE sometimes don’t have a strong internet connection. The product team wanted to avoid this challenge by keeping the majority of functionality on desktop. But my research told us that Safety Managers would need mobile access to information to have valuable conversations with Workers. This finding convinced the team to find workarounds and add mobile functionality.

Gave the end user a voice

3M used their process for physical product development to create this solution. This process traditionally concentrated on gathering feedback from the leadership of potential customers. We weren’t listening to the people using the product. Through education and example, I helped the product team incorporate feedback from the end user at every stage.

Users

Safety Managers

Individuals responsible for the safety of Workers in workplaces where hazards exist, e.g., manufacturing facilities and constructions sites

• Care deeply about the well-being of Workers

• Experienced managers of behavioral change

• Responsible in emergencies

Workers

Employees in hazardous settings who need protection

• Concerned with personal safety

• Desire autonomy in their work

• Take pride in their work

The Ask

3M developed a wearable device to inform workers if they used their reusable respirators correctly. This small, lightweight device communicated to Workers through lights and haptic feedback. Stakeholders asked me to create a dashboard to help Safety Managers monitor Worker safety performance over time. Eventually, I understood that Safety Managers were not the only users that needed to view performance.

Research Findings

1. When Safety Managers became aware of a potential issue with a Worker’s performance via the dashboard, their next step was to have a conversation with that Worker. They also wanted to reference the dashboard data in this conversation.

2. Due to the environment and nature of work, it's unlikely that Safety Managers and Workers would have a conversation near a stationary computer. They needed a mobile solution.

3. Safety Managers and Workers wanted Workers to have access to personal safety data.

Process

Contextual Inquiry | By attending technically focused field trials, I identified gaps we needed to fill to create a usable system. Early gaps included: the unboxing experience, system setup, assignment of devices, and training

Concept Testing | Through multiple rounds of user research, I created meaningful displays of Worker data for Safety Manager and Worker review

Prototyping | Connected the entire system through a mobile experience that enabled system setup, assignment of devices, training, and performance tracking

Usability Testing | Evaluated the essential mobile tasks required for system setup and maintenance

Result

After learning from users, we created a system that provided Safety Managers the information they needed to solve performance issues and allowed Workers to take safety into their own hands by accessing their data. We accomplished this through a system that included respirators, devices, chargers, and multi-device experiences.