Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety (2016)

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1 Purpose and Products Many bus operator workstation elements have changed in recent years, and many are evolving. Transit industry stakeholders—transit agencies, bus and equipment manufacturers, trade groups, and government agencies—all have an interest in enhancing the bus operator workstation design to improve bus operator health and safety. A well-designed bus operator workstation ensures safe driving while navigating busy streets and attending to unpredict- able vehicles. It should maximize operator safety, health, and comfort; reduce cognitive and physical demands; and promote interaction with passengers. Research Approach To understand the challenges related to transit bus procurement and design specifica- tions, the research team started by reviewing the literature available on bus operator health and safety, bus design guidelines, and bus technologies. Following the literature review, the research approach included: • Soliciting input from key stakeholders. Bus manufacturers, transit agency staff, labor union officers, and industry experts in the United States and Canada were asked about their experiences with the bus design and procurement process to enhance bus operator health and safety. Data collection consisted of surveys and interviews focused on three components that are essential to continuous improvement: people, process, and technol- ogy. The intent was to understand the team structure, composition, and processes of bus procurement activities as they related to bus operator health and safety. • Combining this information to draft an improved procurement process for the bus operator workstation, with training recommendations for procurement teams and bus operators. The investigation of bus procurement practices looked into who the critical bus operator workstation procurement stakeholders are; how transit agencies bring stake- holders together for problem-solving; and what tools, training, and skills the stakeholders need to effectively assess and design bus operator workstations. • Developing a CAD model for transit buses. Physical measurements of buses were com- bined with data supplied by a transit bus manufacturer to develop the bus operator com- partment for the workstation computer-aided design (CAD) model. Researchers drafted a suggested feature guideline and a CAD model guideline by combining known transit bus architecture with a matrix of international bus operator workstation design guides. The suggested procurement process practices, training, and CAD tools from this research are designed for use by transit agencies to coordinate with their workforce, vehicle manufac- turers, and suppliers. This procurement and design guide also is intended to enhance com- munications among transit agencies, manufacturers, researchers, and industry groups. S U M M A R Y Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety

2 Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety Research Products TCRP Project C-22, “Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety,” produced a set of guidance documents and tools to help transit agencies and manufacturers integrate the suggested procurement practices and emerging technolo- gies into bus operator workstation design and procurement. The products of this research include: 1. A suggested procurement process and strategies for transit agencies to develop, train, and support a bus procurement team that includes bus operators as well as representa- tives from operations, maintenance, safety, and procurement to effectively participate in the development of specifications for the bus operator workstation; 2. Training recommendations for the procurement team to support the bus operator workstation procurement process and an ergonomics training module for bus operators designed to improve their contributions to procurement and improve their health, safety, and job performance; 3. Guidelines to update TCRP Report 25: Bus Operator Workstation Evaluation and Design Guidelines, developed in 1997; and 4. A digital CAD model of an operator workstation that can be used by designers and transit agencies to develop specifications for the bus operator workstation. (A 3-D PDF Model also was created to facilitate use of the digital model by individuals who do not have CAD training or access to CAD software). The tools and suggested practices support an active procurement team that includes stake- holders throughout the procurement process. Bus operators are pivotal members of the team, especially during current bus evaluation, bus operator workstation specification, and new bus testing. The procurement process relies on communication and sharing of resources within the transit agency. Transit agencies are key stakeholders in the development and availability of technology, and can use the design guidance tools to find, request, or design equipment that suits their needs. Improved technology also strongly depends on communication among transit agencies, with manufacturers and suppliers, and across government, research, and transit industry trade organizations. Bus operators and their unions have a great deal to contribute to—and gain from—workstation design improvements. Trade groups and academic researchers in transit, vehicle design, and ergonomics can support innovation and accelerate design changes, as can government agencies with influence on procurement standards and equipment design expec- tations. This research report illustrates a network for information exchange and resource sharing that involves all of the interests needed to contribute to the development of safer and more affordable equipment. Toolkit Overview The tools discussed in this section are available for download from the webpage for TCRP Report 185, which can be accessed from www.trb.org by searching “TCRP Report 185”. Organization Guidance Tools The suggested procurement practices for bus operator health and safety are based on the understanding that bus operator health and safety will be optimized in an ongoing pro- cess of planning, data collection, evaluation, and decision-making that includes all relevant

Summary 3 stakeholders. The procurement training template and the bus operator ergonomics training framework will help procurement teams to understand the process before and during pro- curement. Carrying out the outlined training between procurement cycles is also important; it will prepare stakeholders, including bus operators, to observe, document, and correct issues during the bus life cycle and record them for future reference. Suggested Procurement Practice for Bus Operator Health and Safety The suggested procurement process is organized into four phases. Each phase includes varying degrees of training, data collection, evaluation and testing, and communication both internal and with outside stakeholders. Organization Tool 1: Bus Operator Work- station Procurement Practice (listed online as “Suggested Procurement Practice for Bus Operator Health and Safety”) consists of essential steps and suggested practices that were generated from the range of activities described by the research subjects. The process is explained in detail in Chapter 2 of this research report and is summarized in the following discussion. Phase I: Build and Support the Procurement Team Step 1: Define procurement process and recruit stakeholders. Suggested Practice: The transit agency procurement process engages stakeholders to address bus operator workstation health and safety. Step 2: Prepare and train procurement team and stakeholders. Suggested Practice: Stakeholders contributing to the procurement process are provided with training to understand, analyze, and support bus operator health and safety. Step 3: Maintain internal communications. Suggested Practice: Throughout the procurement process, effective communication about bus operator workstation and operator health and safety is maintained between the procurement team and executive, management, and line-level employees and their representatives. Phase II: Prepare for Procurement Step 4: Review past procurements. Suggested Practice: Stakeholders systematically review past procurements for all items affecting workstation design and operator health and safety, engaging safety teams and operators. Step 5: Request information—internally and externally. Suggested Practice: The procurement team collects relevant internal and external informa- tion about bus operator workstation design and its impact on bus operators. The focus is on identifying bus operator health and safety (BOHS) concerns and impacts. Step 6: Investigate new technology. Suggested Practice: The transit agency maintains and refers to an information base of existing and developing technologies and their impacts on operator health and safety. Step 7: Test or mock up changes. Suggested Practice: Potential changes are assessed for their impacts on operator health, safety, and comfort through mock-ups and loaner equipment.

4 Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety Phase III: Specification, Request for Proposals (RFP), and Award Step 8: Define options with all manufacturers. Suggested Practice: The procurement team engages manufacturers in active exchanges that help identify and resolve concerns related to health and safety before final specifications. Step 9: Draft specifications and RFP. Suggested Practice: The procurement draft and RFP reflect stakeholder input to explicitly address the areas affecting bus operator health and safety. Step 10: Review changes proposed internally or by manufacturers. Suggested Practice: Changes proposed at any upper level, later changes, and manufacturers’ requests for deviations are assessed on the same terms as the procurement draft and RFP. Phase IV: Complete the Build and Roll-out. Step 11: Monitor bus build process and test pilot buses. Suggested Practice: The procurement team continues to oversee the build process, test pilot buses, and systematically address changes needed to meet the ergonomic demands of the bus operator workstation to improve any impact on the health and safety of operators and others. Step 12: Evaluate and correct problems (ongoing). Suggested Practice: Throughout the bus life cycle, the safety department and bus operators contribute to the evaluation of the fleet for issues that affect health and safety. In-warranty and fleet defects and refit and retrofit solutions are identified and implemented on existing buses and documented for future procurements. Organization Tool 1 presents these steps sequentially, but in the real world they overlap. In particular, evaluation of the impact of the workstation on bus operator health and safety continues throughout the bus life cycle. Similarly, it is suggested that training precede the procurement phase and also be continued or repeated as needed. Procurement Team Training Comprehensive procurement team training to enhance bus operator health and safety covers three areas: 1. The transit agency’s procurement practices, 2. Core knowledge and technical skills concerning the bus operator workstation, and 3. Engineering and design skills and knowledge. Training modules that focus on how the procurement process works and how it will address bus operator health and safety are suggested for all procurement team participants working on issues affecting bus operator health and safety. Additional training topic areas include bus operator ergonomics and biomechanics, relevant design and engineering con- cepts, and regulations concerning operator health and safety. Chapter 3 of this research report details the content that will help the procurement team to understand how the workstation configuration affects the bus operator and to identify and evaluate potential improvements. Organization Tool 2: Bus Operator Workstation Procurement Team Training (listed online as “Procurement Team Training”) is a presen- tation template that lays out the training module objectives, suggested content, and support materials to be developed and modified to suit each transit agency’s needs. The template includes slides that summarize the steps and suggested practices defined in Organization

Summary 5 Tool 1. The training could be developed and carried out by a consortium at a regional or national level. Ergonomics Training for Bus Operators The goal of the procurement process is to limit the physical challenges presented by the bus operator workstation. Additionally, bus operators need training to use the equipment provided to work as comfortably and safely as possible, and to contribute to the selection of improved workstation elements. Comprehensive ergonomics training teaches workers to understand and to ameliorate their work demands. For this section of the research, the research team collected information from transit agency and industry experts through inter- views, and reviewed training examples produced by transit organizations and other industries. Organization Tool 3: Ergonomics Training for Bus Operators (listed online as “Ergo- nomics for Bus Operators Training Template”) provides a complete presentation template for transit agencies to modify with their own information and images. This tool can also be used to train the procurement team on ergonomics and the demands of bus operators’ work. Design Guidance Tools The research team sought to develop the updated bus operator workstation guidelines by including tools, such as Design Tool 1: Bus Operator Workstation Feature Guideline (listed online as “Bus Operator Workstation Feature Guideline”) and the three-dimensional (3-D) Design Tool 2: Bus Operator Workstation Engineering CAD Model (listed online as “Bus Operator Workstation Engineering CAD Model” and available as either an IGS file or a STEP file), in products that align with the processes and practices that are common within the rest of the commercial bus and truck industry. To help communicate bus operator workstation requirements with individuals who do not have access to or are not trained in CAD software, the Bus Operator Workstation Engineering CAD Model was exported into a lightweight 3-D universal file format to create Design Tool 3: Bus Operator Workstation 3-D PDF Model (available online from the TCRP Report 185 webpage, along with a 3-D PDF user guide) Bus Operator Workstation Feature Guideline The feature guideline is a tool for comparing pre-existing or new bus operator work- station dimensions to suggested feature dimensions. The research team used information from industry, existing transit bus vehicle design, and other international bus operator workstation guidelines to construct a stand-alone, updated feature guideline document. The research team gathered transit industry bus operator workstation guidelines from the United States and Europe and compiled comparative specifications from these publicly available sources, including TCRP Report 25, to illustrate similarities and differences in one International Bus Operator Workstation Design Matrix, which is appended to Design Tool 1. The feature guideline document is intended to provide design guidance for transit bus manufacturers and transit bus agencies procuring buses. The primary scope of this document is limited to the key elements of operator workstation design that impact the health and well- being of the bus operator. Each feature guideline uses the following format: • Definition: Provides a description of each individual operator workstation feature; • Figure: Where possible, provides an illustration of each specific feature; • Design Guideline: Provides suggested design objectives based on ergonomic principles and vehicle design literature; and • Need for Design Guideline: Provides the reasoning for the design criteria as well as the factors that need to be considered when designing the operator workstation feature.

6 Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety Bus Operator Workstation Engineering CAD Model The research team applied 2-D and 3-D data from a current production transit bus to establish the basic architecture of a transit bus operator workstation. The modeling of com- ponents was accomplished using solid-modeling CAD. SAE International’s recommended practices (RPs) were applied to develop the operating packaging references and envelopes of Design Tool 2: Bus Operator Workstation Engineering CAD Model (Engineering CAD Model). Additional guidelines were applied that might enhance the Engineering CAD Model to meet the needs of the transit bus operators. The model has been exported in uni- versal solid-body CAD modeling formats including Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) and Standard for the Exchange of Product (STEP), which are available online for download from the TCRP Report 185 webpage. An example image from the Engineering CAD Model is shown in Figure S-1. Bus Operator Workstation 3-D PDF Model and User Guide To increase awareness of the bus operator’s needs and the process by which those needs can be met through appropriate communication among the stakeholders in the procurement process, it was deemed appropriate to make a 3-D tool accessible to a wider audience than just engineers with CAD experience. To accomplish this purpose, the Bus Operator Workstation Engineering CAD Model was exported into a lightweight 3-D universal file format (i.e., PDF) as Design Tool 3: Bus Operator Workstation 3-D PDF Model. An image from this model is shown in Figure S-2. For users not familiar with Adobe 3-D PDF applications, a user guide was also developed and formatted into a PDF file. The user guide explains how to open the model, navigate, and capture rough dimensions. Both Design Tool 3 and the 3-D PDF user guide can be accessed online from the TCRP Report 185 webpage. Figure S-1. Bus Operator Workstation Engineering CAD Model guideline data (solid-body colored envelopes only) superimposed over the transit bus operator workstation reference system with wireframe bus—contextual demonstration only.

Summary 7 Figure S-2. A front, isometric view of the Bus Operator Workstation 3-D PDF Model. Ground and bus platform, vehicle references, clearance envelopes, reach envelopes, visibility planes, seat access, and seat/steering wheel/pedal packaging references are demonstrated.