Development and assessment of the Canadian personal load carriage system using objective biomechanical measures

Development and assessment of the Canadian personal load carriage system using objective biomechanical measures

The Defence Research and Development Canada-Toronto managed a collaborative team of designers, biomechanists, ergonomists and military stakeholders in the development of a new personal load carriage (LC) system for the Canadian Forces. Ergonomics design principles using objective measurement tools a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ergonomics Vol. 47; no. 12; pp. 1255 - 1271
Main Authors: Stevenson, Joan M, Bryant, J Tim, Reid, Susan A, Pelot, Ron P, Morin, Evelyn L, Bossi, Linda L
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Taylor & Francis Ltd 10-10-2004
Washington, DC Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis LLC
Subjects:
Anthropometry
Applied physiology
Backpacks
Biological and medical sciences
Biomechanical Phenomena
Biomechanics
Canada
Compliance
Equipment Design
Ergonomics
Ergonomics. Work place. Occupational physiology
Fragmentation vests
Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology
Humans
Load carriage
Medical sciences
Military Medicine
Military supplies
Rucksacks
Simulator
Space life sciences
Tactical assault vests
Weight-Bearing - physiology
Canada
North America
America
Biomechanics
Human
Ergonomics
Compliance
Rucksacks
Fragmentation vests
Tactical assault vests
Manual activity
Simulator
Load carriage
Backpacks
Handling
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Summary:The Defence Research and Development Canada-Toronto managed a collaborative team of designers, biomechanists, ergonomists and military stakeholders in the development of a new personal load carriage (LC) system for the Canadian Forces. Ergonomics design principles using objective measurement tools and user-centred feedback from soldiers were considered essential to system development. The purpose of this study was to provide a detailed report of contributions by biomechanical testing to the final design of the final Canadian LC system. The Load Carriage Simulator and Compliance Tester were used to test design iterations of: three fragmentation vests, seven tactical vests and three iterations of the backpack. Test data were compared to a data pool of seventeen previously tested systems. Results indicated that the objective measures helped the design team by: (1) quantifying and understanding the consequences of various design changes; (2) predicting soldiers' responses to design changes in skin contact pressure, force and relative motion; (3) objectively comparing design iterations to other systems; and (4) providing information quickly so that ideas and recommendations could be incorporated into the next design iteration. It was concluded that objective assessments added valuable information not easily interpreted from human trials. However, objective assessments cannot replace human trials for feedback on functionality and features.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:0014-0139
1366-5847
DOI:10.1080/00140130410001699128