Since the onset of automotive safety awareness over 60 years ago the only rollover protection solution to be widely acknowledged and used in the E & P Industry has been the traditional internal roll cage. These traditional roll cages have become out-of-date and in recent testing are shown to be ineffective at the A-Pillar and windshield header.An all-encompassing study of rollover accidents has shown that this old technology is not the best way to mitigate injury. Understanding "Real World" rollover crashes and how injuries occur is instrumental in pinpointing the key areas of the vehicle's roof structure that require improvement. Our study included over 500 "Real World" rollover crash investigations and over 300 rollover crash tests performed with innovative dynamic testing using the Jordan Rollover System (JRS).Over the past decade automobile manufacturers have improved roof strength and added computer controlled driver assistance measures to avoid crashes. Still, the need exists for a majority of the common SUV's, Ute's, Vans, and buses to use an aftermarket solution. This study illuminates the deficiencies in internal and other ROPS enabling HSE Managers to make more informed decisions when choosing a system. The goal of ROPS today should be to protect occupants without interfering with OEM safety systems.Our investigation shows that rollovers producing serious to fatal injuries are characterized by a vehicle crash that includes rolling with forward pitch. In this circumstance, injury occurs when; vehicles roof strength is low, the geometry of the vehicle is poor including a large major radius, the structure of the roof is open section and/or the windshield header is weak. These crash characteristics show the importance of reinforcement at the A-Pillar and forward roof header. Traditional roll cages do not protect this area of the vehicle as shown in the new testing included in this paper.The E & P Industry is spending millions of dollars annually on occupant protection systems that are not offering the best protection for their workforce. New technologies in current vehicles and research advances in the design and approach to protection systems can reduce overall costs without sacrificing protection.

Many purchasers and operators of heavy trucks may be unaware of the potential added danger to occupants from equipment overhanging the cab under rollover conditions. This study examines US and EU regulations for heavy truck occupant protection and the options for minimizing injuries with aftermarket equipment. US and EU government regulations regarding occupant protection in heavy trucks were reviewed and their shortcomings with regard to vehicles modified with a boom structure are highlighted. A finite element model of a truck and boom were created. Baseline performance was verified against real world data and simulations run for rollover impacts. Significant intrusion into the occupant compartment due to the loading of the overhead boom was observed. Overhead booms can deform during contact with the ground, with longer overhanging associated with greater intrusion into the cab under rollover impact conditions. The effect of these structures on heavy truck crashworthiness, especially with regard to low strength OEM cabs, must be considered during up-fitting. A simulation was run with an aftermarket device and conclusions are presented.

Rollover crashes remain over represented in land transportation around the world and in particular, the Oil and Gas industry, (OGP) when compared to other crash categories. The realities of this crash type is that within the USA alone it represents one in 33 car crashes each year, but it claims more than three of every ten lives lost on the nation's highways -10,000 fatalities a year! As a crash type it is now responsible for more than a quarter of a million injuries, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (NHTSA, 2009) This alarming reality remains a very real exposure to land transportation safety within the OGP. In response, a variety of mitigation measures have been designed and installed worldwide. In the opinion of the authors, these traditional mitigation measures have become outdated and obsolete. Current research lends new insight into what causes injuries in rollovers and how to mitigate against those causes.With the distinct lack of structural roof strength in most vehicles combined with the insubstantial crash performance criteria in vehicle roof design within the automotive industry, OEM's are not compelled to ensure that the structure of their production vehicles are reinforced suitably to maintain occupant survival space in a rollover crash. Unfortunately this results in the vast majority of vehicles used within the industry today requiring some form of roof reinforcement to ensure that occupants are protected during a rollover crash.Within the OGP today, a wide variety of Roll Over Protection Systems (ROPS) structures (both internal and external) are usually designed, purchased, manufactured, installed and maintained locally and with very little (if any) expert consultation. This has resulted in a wide variety of designs emerging with an alarming variance in the "assumed" effectiveness of each. Couple this alarming trend with the risk of rendering the existing intrinsic safety features ineffectual on modern vehicles, such as side air bag curtains and seat belt pre-tensioners, has resulted in vehicles with inadequate crash safety performance. This paper describes how roof crush intrusion and intrusion speed into the occupant compartment can be minimized to an inconsequential amount using innovative design to externally retrofitted roof strengthening systems based on an understanding of road crash data, empirical evidence, and innovative state of the art testing and analysis to provide effective external ROPS structures for the OGP.

Rollover crashes remain over represented in land transportation around the world and in particular, the Oil and Gas industry, (OGP) when compared to other crash categories. The realities of this crash type is that within the USA alone it represents one in 33 car crashes each year, but it claims more than three of every ten lives lost on the nation's highways -10,000 fatalities a year! As a crash type it is now responsible for more than a quarter of a million injuries, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (NHTSA, 2009) This alarming reality remains a very real exposure to land transportation safety within the OGP. In response, a variety of mitigation measures have been designed and installed worldwide. In the opinion of the authors, these traditional mitigation measures have become outdated and obsolete. Current research lends new insight into what causes injuries in rollovers and how to mitigate against those causes.With the distinct lack of structural roof strength in most vehicles combined with the insubstantial crash performance criteria in vehicle roof design within the automotive industry, OEM's are not compelled to ensure that the structure of their production vehicles are reinforced suitably to maintain occupant survival space in a rollover crash. Unfortunately this results in the vast majority of vehicles used within the industry today requiring some form of roof reinforcement to ensure that occupants are protected during a rollover crash.Within the OGP today, a wide variety of Roll Over Protection Systems (ROPS) structures (both internal and external) are usually designed, purchased, manufactured, installed and maintained locally and with very little (if any) expert consultation. This has resulted in a wide variety of designs emerging with an alarming variance in the "assumed" effectiveness of each. Couple this alarming trend with the risk of rendering the existing intrinsic safety features ineffectual on modern vehicles, such as side air bag curtains and seat belt pre-tensioners, has resulted in vehicles with inadequate crash safety performance. This paper describes how roof crush intrusion and intrusion speed into the occupant compartment can be minimized to an inconsequential amount using innovative design to externally retrofitted roof strengthening systems based on an understanding of road crash data, empirical evidence, and innovative state of the art testing and analysis to provide effective external ROPS structures for the OGP.