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Assessing Lifecycle and Human Costs of Bus Operator Workstation Design and Components

项目名称：	Assessing Lifecycle and Human Costs of Bus Operator Workstation Design and Components
摘要：	he job of bus operator is among the least healthy job classifications, as described by Bushnell, Li, and Landau (2011). Costs to public transportation agencies are high and the human costs are considerable. Employee time loss at public transportation agencies is significantly higher than for the average in the U.S. working population. The bus operator environment is integral to health. Musculoskeletal problems, such as low back pain or wrist, elbow, and shoulder pain, are endemic in public transportation. Newer �active� systems for seating and steering, however, can reduce these problems, as described by Gregersen (2015), and there have been significant changes in the designs of critical systems for bus operator workstations, such as seats, pedals, and steering. The industry has great need for guidance in understanding, evaluating, and implementing options for improving operator health while reducing time loss, injury, disability, and external liability. TCRP Report 25: Bus Operator Workstation Evaluation and Design Guidelines was published in 1997. Its partial update, TCRP Report 185: Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety was published in 2016 and revisited the packaging of the driver�s workstation. Additional research is needed on critical systems such as seats, pedals, and steering to inform specifications and procurements. Audiences for this work include transit agencies, the public transportation industry, regulators, and labor; specifically, safety committees, risk and safety managers, chief engineers, and directors of maintenance at transit agencies that oversee specifications for procurements; human resources departments; writers of specifications for contracted services; APTA committees and programs; manufacturers; and suppliers. The objective of this research is to assess bus operator workstation technologies that improve bus operator health and well-being and reduce external risk. This project will (1) develop and (2) demonstrate a user-friendly toolkit for evaluating equipment within the bus operator workstation. The research will supplement the work of TCRP Report 25 and TCRP Report 185, covering progress in the engineering of seats, steering, pedals, and controls where significant advances have been shown to reduce injuries, reduce costs, and improve safety performance. The toolkit will allow a user to (1) assess bus operator workstation options available and (2) calculate the effects of those options on driver safety and health, the effective work tenure of drivers, crash rates (e.g., visual obstructions such as pillar design and mirror placement), and costs over the lifetime of equipment (i.e., lifecycle costs).
状态：	Active
资金：	250000
资助组织：	Federal Transit Administration
项目负责人：	Parker, Stephan A
执行机构：	Pennsylvania State University, University Park
主要研究人员：	Parkinson, Matthew
开始时间：	20180717
预计完成日期：	20200716
实际结束时间：	0