The Psychological Cost of Sustained Vigilance: Burnout, Alertness Decline, and a Mental Health-Informed Data Assurance System for Long-Term Geotechnical Monitoring Personnel
Fan YangAbstract
Objective
This study investigates the psychological impact on personnel conducting long-term, monotonous monitoring of tunnels and foundation pits, focusing on professional burnout and vigilance decrement. It aims to examine how these mental health factors compromise data reliability and to propose a supportive, psychologically-informed assurance system for monitoring integrity and personnel well-being.
Subjects and Methods
A mixed-methods longitudinal study was conducted with 45 full-time monitoring engineers over six months. Quantitative measures included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), Psychomotor Vigilance Tests (PVT), and analysis of data reporting accuracy. Qualitative insights were gathered through interviews to explore subjective experiences of fatigue and stress. A supportive framework integrating task design and psychological support was subsequently developed.
Results
A significant correlation was found between increased burnout scores—particularly emotional exhaustion—and both slower PVT reaction times and a higher rate of missed data anomalies. Qualitative findings identified chronic under-stimulation and anxiety over rare critical events as key stressors leading to attentional fatigue. The proposed "Vigilance Sustainment and Data Assurance System" (VS-DAS) framework incorporates structured task rotation, cognitive arousal protocols, and biophysical feedback mechanisms.
Conclusions
Sustained safety monitoring poses significant risks to personnel mental health, which directly threatens data integrity and infrastructure safety. Proactively addressing burnout and vigilance decline through psychologically-informed operational frameworks is essential. The proposed system integrates occupational health principles into engineering practice to safeguard both monitor well-being and long-term monitoring reliability.
Corresponding Author
Fan Yang, School of Highway and Railway Engineering, Hubei Communications Technical College, Wuhan 430205, China.