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>> In the early 2000's NIOSH began investigating
opportunities to improve occupant and worker safety
when in the patient compartment of a moving ambulance
by crash testing a variety of ambulances.
Crash testing ambulances allows engineers
to better understand how the structure reacts during front,
side, and rear crash events.
This module covers the value of crash testing
in the design process and explains the underlying characteristics
and testing methods used to evaluate an ambulance in front,
side, and rear crash testing.
You'll also learn how data collected
from these tests serves as the basis
for developing safety innovations
in the patient compartment.
>> This particular project started
out as a small government effort, but as we got involved
with the industry, we saw great opportunities together.
>> The goal and the overarching goal, if you will,
between the government and the ambulance industry was
to provide as safe an environment
for that particular ambulance as there would be in a car.
>> We saw that we had addressed a lot of the safety issues
that you could logically see,
but once you involved an ambulance in a crash
in the same kind of ways that we've crashed passenger vehicles
for years, I think there were some basic light bulbs
that went off.
>> It has given us the credibility,
most importantly the credibility of standards that allow us
to provide a safer vehicle through facts,
through scientific evidence.
>> Crash testing for the ambulance program follows the
same exact protocol as it does in the automotive industry.
For example, performing a vehicle frontal collision.
We perform that test with the vehicle traveling 30 miles per
hour into a concrete wall.
>> During a crash some of the energy is consumed as the front
of the vehicle is crushed; however,
much of that energy is still actually transferred
through the vehicle body to the back of the ambulance.
During a crash, we were able to measure
that energy on the floor.
We can now recreate that energy or force in a lab to design
and test a cot, seat, or equipment mount without having
to crash more ambulances.
>> Thirty miles per hour a lot
of sometimes doesn't sound very fast to people, but you have
to understand if the vehicle's going from 30 to zero in less
than an eighth of a second, the G forces
and the energy transfer are extremely high during
that time period -- much, much higher than what would be seen
in a typical neighborhood crash.
>> These new standards that we're talking
about that are part of the collaboration
with not only NIOSH but other government agencies,
Homeland Security, GSA, NITSA, and a whole host
of other parties, too.
We've had direct involvement from the chassis OEM's,
from Ford and General Motors, from automotive test facilities
that have some very,
very incredible talent in automotive safety.
We've been able to get, more or less, kind of a dream team together
in this research forum to help create these standards.
>> Knowing how the vehicle responds during each
of these crashes, engineers are better able
to design other interior structures
that can handle the unique loading found
in these larger vehicles.
Test engineers installed accelerometers
on the vehicle frame patient compartment floor and ceiling
in a specific pattern.
Data collected with these accelerometers is used
to find the vehicle's impact curve, allowing engineers
to form the crash pulse corridor,
which can easily be recreated in a sled test facility.
Using the vehicle's crash response or crash pulse,
engineers now have the building blocks needed to design
and test seats, cots, equipment mounts, cabinets,
and the body itself so that each component can better withstand
the real-world forces found in a crash event.
Frontal impact testing of the ambulance consisted
of three ambulances which were crashed
into a fixed concrete barrier at 30 miles an hour.
These tests matched the testing requirements used
by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard FMVSS 208.
Data from these tests has been published as SAE J2917.
>> Now that we have characterized the energy
in a frontal crash, we can recreate that crash on a sled
and test a single seat, or a cot, or an equipment mount
for far less cost than it takes to crash an entire ambulance.
>> Side impact testing
of the ambulance matches the testing requirements used
by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
when testing passenger cars, vans, and light trucks.
This is the same test that is used
for their five-star crash rating system.
>> We performed four ambulance side impact crash tests.
In each test a 3,300-pound moving deformable barrier
impacted each ambulance at 31 miles per hour.
Data from these tests has been published as SAE J2956.
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>> Recognizing the potential for injury from a rear impact,
as well as a rebound from a frontal collision,
the team also performed rear crash testing.
>> Rear impact testing was completed using a modified
version of the side impact test
of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The team used the same 3,300 pound moving deformable barrier
and impacted the rear of both modular
and van-style ambulances.
>> Data from these tests has been published as SAE J3044.
>> Full vehicle crash testing provides ambulance manufacturers
and suppliers with the information they need
to improve the crashworthiness of their products.
>> All of this has been completed with one simple goal
in mind: To provide you with the work environment
that helps you be as safe at work as if you were traveling
to work in your own car.
>> The so next time your agency is thinking
about purchasing a new ambulance,
please work with your manufacturer to make sure
that the seating, cot, and the other major components have been
crash tested.
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