Applications of human factors and ergonomics in the design process have great potential in a service learning setting. During the 2009 and 2010 fall semesters, a national competition for designing work aids for disabled persons was integrated as a service learning term project in a senior level undergraduate course entitled “Human Factors and Ergonomics I.” This project provided students with hands-on experience in applying both engineering skills (based upon the ABET a-k outcomes) and ergonomics principles to designing for special populations. Throughout the semester students worked one-on-one with an assigned disabled client and the client’s vocational aide in applying concepts learned during the course. The project’s objective was to develop an assistive device that would empower their client with disabilities to overcome barriers to employment. This included enabling their clients to perform their jobs with greater ease and efficiency and in some cases with complete independence. In order to encourage a more widespread adoption of service learning within human factors and ergonomics education, this paper describes one application of a service learning project that can be applied across a variety of human factors and ergonomics courses.

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Summary: This study examined the duties performed by emergency medical service workers with the goal of increasing the time EMS workers are restrained while providing patient care during transport. An optimal layout of equipment and materials in the rear patient cabin of an ambulance was created increase seatbelt restraint feasibility for working medics. Over 13,000 EMS agency call logs were evaluated to identify medical procedures frequently performed during patient transports, which were then filmed and analyzed using Pareto and link analysis to measure restraint feasibility. An alternative ambulance layout was developed following focus group meetings, and the adjusted tasks restraint feasibilities were calculated for the alternative layout. Restraint feasibility was significantly increased for the 5 th percentile female, 50 th percentile male, and 95 th percentile male anthropometric populations. The proposed patient compartment design increased overall restraint feasibility from 47 percent to 90 percent. The proposed design would increase safety for medics and patients during patient transports by increasing the number of tasks that could be performed from a belted and seated position. OBJECTIVESAmbulance-crash-related injuries to emergency medical service (EMS) workers could be greatly reduced if medics were restrained more often while riding in the patient compartment. With so many factors affecting the likelihood of an ambulance crash, there is no definitive means of reducing crash risk. This study examined the duties performed by EMS workers with the goal of increasing their restraint time. Work inefficiencies were considered to develop an improved layout for the ambulance patient compartment. BACKGROUND