Partnering with industry to build safe EMS work environments.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Green J
• Description:
  This presentation will summarize the results from the NIOSH developed collaborative research program to improve ambulance crash safety. NIOSH worked handin-hand with the ambulance industry to create a family of component specific test standards or test methods aimed at improving the safety of workers and occupants while riding in the patient compartment of an ambulance. The component specific test standards cover; (1) ambulance crash response in frontal impact; (2) ambulance crash response in side impact; (3) ambulance crash response in rear impact; (4) seating and occupant restraints; (5) gurney and patient restraint; (6) equipment mounting, (7) patient compartment structural integrity, (8) gurney-tofloor structural integrity, (9) cabinet and drawer content retention, and (10) seated occupant excursion at impact. Each test standard or test method is based on quantitative, science based research. Each meets or exceeds existing international standards. All have been validated using full scale test articles redesign and provided by the ambulance industry and its suppliers as a part of the collaborative research process. Each of these component specific test standards or methods has or will be published by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). To date, the first six (6) have been published, while the remaining four (4) are in the SAE review process. NIOSH is now utilizing these research results and published SAE documents to directly influence changes to four bumper-to-bumper standards now used, or intended for use, in the design of an ambulance. The targeted standard setting bodies and documents are: the General Services Administration's Federal Specification for the Star-of-Life Ambulance; the Ambulance Manufacturer's Division of the National Truck Equipment Association's Ambulance Standards, the National Fire Protection Association's 1917 Automotive Ambulance Standard and the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services Ground Vehicle Standard for Ambulances (GVS 2015). The research team has secured the agreement and cooperation of each of these entities to work toward this common goal and has, as of 2014, provided input to, or directly published standards language with, each.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Hazardous Substances Nervous System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Drivers Medical-equipment Motor-vehicles Safety-belts Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Work-environment Workers
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  96
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047369
• Citation:
  National Occupational Injury Research Symposium 2015, (NOIRS 2015), May 19-21, 2015, Kingwood, West Virginia. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2015 May; :96
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:46835b5048e7ae076f2c6ba1fcbe0964df91cc4ae91ccfb286ae4973ffaf9f3267a23e52ebf8bec4c894bf388fd14cc7c058d5662a6e470e73ce09b0e3fe1783
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181670/cdc_181670_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 923.55 KB ]