The ability of UK offshore workers of different body size and shape to egress through a restricted window space.

Stewart, Arthur; Ledingham, Robert; Furnace, Graham; Schranz, Natasha; Nevill, Alan

doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2015.11.005

The ability of UK offshore workers of different body size and shape to egress through a restricted window space.

Stewart, Arthur; Ledingham, Robert; Furnace, Graham; Schranz, Natasha; Nevill, Alan

Authors

Arthur Stewart

Robert Ledingham

Graham Furnace

Natasha Schranz

Alan Nevill

Abstract

404 male offshore workers aged 41.4 (± 10.7 years) underwent 3D body scanning and an egress task simulating the smallest helicopter window emergency exit size. The 198 who failed were older (P < 0.01), taller (P < 0.05) and heavier (P < 0.0001) than the 206 who passed. Using all extracted dimensions from the scans, binary logistic regression identified a model (refined using backward elimination) which predicted egress outcome with 75.2% accuracy. Using only weight, bideltoid breadth and maximum chest depth, the model achieved ~70% accuracy. When anatomical dimensions categorise individuals for small window egress, 25% or more will be misclassified, with false positives (those predicted to fail, but pass) slightly outnumbering false negatives (those predicted to pass, but fail), highlighting the limitations of a predictive approach which treats the body as a rigid object. Differences in flexibility and technique may explain these observations, which may be important considerations for future research.

Citation

STEWART, A., LEDINGHAM, R., FURNACE, G., SCHRANZ, N. and NEVILL, A. 2016. The ability of UK offshore workers of different body size and shape to egress through a restricted window space. Applied ergonomics [online], 55, pages 226-233. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2015.11.005

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 8, 2015
Online Publication Date	Nov 21, 2015
Publication Date	Jul 31, 2016
Deposit Date	Sep 9, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Nov 22, 2017
Journal	Applied ergonomics
Print ISSN	0003-6870
Electronic ISSN	1872-9126
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	55
Pages	226-233
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2015.11.005
Keywords	Offshore workers; Window egress; Binary logistic regression; 3D scanning
Public URL	http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1640
Contract Date	Sep 9, 2016