Validation of sensor-integrated safety hooks for reliable harness clamping detection in scaffolded construction environments

Accidents in scaffolded environments often result in falls from heights, despite the mandate of the use of PPE and other fall arrest systems. A major limitation of the present systems is the inability to reliably validate the anchoring of the hook of the full-body harness under dynamic conditions, and a majority of the literature reports approaches that rely on indirect indicators such as anchoring failures. This study presents failure mode-driven evaluations of sensor integrations for anchorage detection that directly monitor the physical hook-anchor interface. The approaches include a scaffold-integrated system, an attachment-based system, and a modified anchorage system with the principle of sensing based on deterministic electrical state changes under engagement, ensuring anchoring or disengagement conditions. A microcontroller-based verification and alert mechanism is employed to generate a notification, while the primary contribution lies in the electro-mechanical design of the hook and anchor interface. Scenario-based evaluations under controlled conditions demonstrated detection accuracies of 95.33%, 97.33%, and 99.33% for the adopted approaches. In all three cases, false negatives were minimal, and the findings demonstrate reliable anchoring verification. The proposed design is suitable for ease of adaptability in improving fall protection compliance.