Better vehicle design for all

With increases in life expectancy, there is a growing population of older people around the world. As a result, the population of older drivers is showing a similar increase. Many cars have not been designed to meet the needs of people with age-related disabilities. A questionnaire survey of older and younger drivers (paper/online version n=903) and supplementary interviews with drivers aged ≥ 65 years (n=15) were conducted June-August 2012. Younger drivers were identified as <65 years (53.5%) and older drivers were ≥65 years (46.5%). 7.1% of participants were aged ≥ 80. Older males and females reported more difficulties with parallel parking and driving on a foggy day than younger drivers. Significantly more discomfort was reported by older drivers in the hips, thighs, buttocks and knees compared to younger drivers

Evaluation of the short and medium term use of insoles for personalised footwear

The personalisation of footwear can be beneficial for different population groups, including older people, individuals with foot pathologies or abnormalities and runners. For runners in particular, footwear personalisation has the potential to offer four main advantages: optimum fit, improved comfort perception, improved performance (by altering lower limb alignment to reduce muscle activity) and reducing injury risk through personalisation of cushioning and support requirements. Additive manufacturing (AM) technology has potential for making footwear personalisation economically feasible due to its geometric freedom, tool-less capability and direct manufacture from CAD models. However, it is not known how personalised footwear affects discomfort and biomechanics following short and medium term use. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the short and medium term use of personalised insoles in terms of discomfort and lower extremity biomechanics

What causes accidents?

This paper describes aspects of the findings of a three-year research project, Construction Accident Causality, funded by the UK Health and Safety Executive. The project developed a causality model, through a combination of focus groups and detailed study of 100 construction accidents, using an ergonomics systems approach, to identify where safety is compromised and why. It concludes that stakeholders responsible for the immediate accident circumstances, shaping factors and originating influences must all work hard to remove flaws in their safety systems to ensure that accidents are reduced

A toilet system based on hydrothermal carbonization

We are developing a toilet system that converts faecal material to an aqueous suspension of carbonised material that is safe to handle, and readily separated from the remaining liquid. It will also extract useful salts from the liquid. The system is aim to be the new generation universally appealing toilet and it will be of particular and urgent interest to areas where no (or very crude) sanitation exists. The system is designed to be self-sufficient in terms of energy input and to scale for a number of users in the range a few tens to a thousand or more. In parallel with our engineering development we are designing the system to provide users with a positive and comfortable experience. Hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) has received attention recently as a way to convert biomass - including sewerage - into coal like material. It involves heating the start material in water at high temperatures and pressures. Depending on the conditions used the process can produce hydrocarbon gases or liquids or coal like particles. Most HTC work involving sewerage treatment is currently aimed at replacing established large-scale treatment plants i.e. for places with well-developed sewerage services. Our system, using HTC, is aimed at bringing the process at a decentralized household ( including combination of households) level so that the new generation toilet become accessible to all and particularly to those areas where none currently exists. Using HTC for toilets on continuous basis for such a small scale is the key innovation of our proposed system. We will describe our work to characterise the energetics of the HTC process in order to optimise the process in terms of total energy input and how we have used this information to develop a continuous system based on a plug flow reactor. The material produced by the system can be easily separated from the remaining liquid and used to generate heat and power (via a generator including solar) in order to maintain the process. The solids are safe to handle, and look, feel and smell much like coffee grounds. In situations where electrical (or renewable energy like solar) power is available the solid material can be used either as a fuel for heating and cooking, as a soil conditioner and possibly for carbon capture. We will discuss the possibility of including other waste material (food, sanitary waste etc.) into the system. In order to minimize the amount of water required to flush material away from the toilet bowl and to help maintain high sanitary standards we have been investigating anti-fouling coatings for the system. We will describe the results of studies of a nano-coating based on a responsive polymer that significantly enhances the rate at which water flushes away material that adheres to the toilet surface

Digital human modelling for virtual fitting trials

A recognised difficulty with the conventional use of Digital Human Modelling (DHM) systems is that they typically use percentile data to describe anthropometry and joint constraints. Hence any model is a synthesis of the set of data rather than a representation of any particular human. Implicit in this is that an acceptable degree of correlation exists between body dimensions whereas it has long been known that only weak correlations exist. The consequences are obvious in that products are designed/evaluated against models of humans that do not exist. An alternative approach is to use pre-defined families of manikins that together ‘enclose’ and represent the necessary diversity of human form. In the real world, rather than the digital world, ergonomists use real people in ‘fitting trials’. These people might be selected on the basis of the need for diversity covering the range of anthropometry that is thought necessary for the product evaluation but the practical considerations rarely allow an exhaustive evaluation. This paper describes an amalgam of the two approaches where the anthropometry and other aspects of more than 150 people has been collected experimentally. This data is used within the HADRIAN system as discrete sets of data rather than as the basis for a percentile representation. i.e. the data is maintained as sets relating to each individual and used to construct digital models of individuals. This is combined with a task description language that is used to drive the product or workplace evaluation in a way that is analogous to a physical fitting trial. The approach is being used within AUNT-SUE (Accessibility and User Needs in Transport – Sustainable Urban Environments) a wide–ranging research project looking at exclusion in public transport systems. The use of the HADRIAN approach is illustrated through a focus on the creation of a journey planner that meets the needs of a diverse range of people including the elderly and disabled

Reducing work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) through design: Views of ergonomics and design practitioners

This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The definitive published version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/WOR-152126BACKGROUND: Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) affect the well-being of workers. Unfortunately, user requirements for design to reduce workplace risk factors for MSDs are not always effectively communicated to designers creating a mismatch between the user requirements and what is ultimately produced. OBJECTIVE: To understand the views of practitioners of design and ergonomics regarding tools for participatory design and features they would like to see in such tools. METHODS: An online questionnaire survey was conducted with a cohort of practitioners of ergonomics and design (n=32). In-depth interviews were then conducted with a subset of these practitioners (n=8). To facilitate discussion, a prototype integrated design tool was developed and demonstrated to practitioners using a verbalized walkthrough approach. RESULTS: According to the results of the questionnaire survey, the majority (70%) believed an integrated approach to participatory design would help reduce work-related MSDs and suggested ways to achieve this, for example, through sharing design information. The interviews showed the majority (n=7) valued being provided with guidance on design activities and ways to manage and present information. CONCLUSION: It is believed that an integrated approach to design in order to help reduce work-related MSDs is highly important and a provision to evaluate design solutions would be desirable for practitioners of design and ergonomics

Development of a QFD Based Collaborative Design Approach to Reduce Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs)

This article was published in the journal, Design Principles and Practice: an International Journal [© Common Ground]. It is also available at: http://ijg.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.154/prod.319Participatory ergonomics can help reduce the risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Its potential can be enhanced by increasing user participation and by helping to provide pragmatic solutions to reduce workplace risks. Research is being conducted to examine the potential of a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) based design approach in reducing work-related MSDs by helping to establish design solutions for equipment and processes. In this pursuit, research has been conducted to investigate potential worker involvement in the participatory process by evaluating their ability to identify risks and user requirements for design to help reduce work-related MSDs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of workers (n=22) in three different case study areas. Their line managers (n=6) were also interviewed. Observations and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) analysis of the work tasks were carried out to supplement and triangulate the worker interview data. The study showed that the workers were able to identify risks and requirements related to tasks. All the workers expressed concern about manual handling. Issues related to awkward postures were also identified by the majority of workers in all three case study areas. The risks and requirements for task improvement extracted from worker interviews were prioritised and details were added from the researcher observations. Findings will inform the development of a QFD matrix-based collaborative design approach to establish design solutions and potentially reduce work-related MSDs

The specification and evaluation of personalised footwear for additive manufacturing

The specification and evaluation of personalised footwear for additive manufacturin