Proposed Handle Height for Infantry Assault Bridge’s Stretcher Adapter

With the current floodings that have been happening, an Infantry Assault Bridge (IAB) has been designed to reach the affected people and retrieve them. Practically, food and medical supplies shall be transported using the IAB. Initially, crossing the IAB with the injured person on a stretcher adapter with wheels to roll over onto the rails has been designed. However, the height of the bridge rail is too low which forces the person pushing the stretcher to bend down which can cause Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) in the long run. Hence, this study was conducted to improve the stretcher adapter by adding a handle with an appropriate height to improve the operational capability based on Human Factors design considerations. For the data collection, 1,007 Malaysian consisting of 516 males and 491 females anthropometries have been taken using Human Body Measuring Kit and Anthropometer for body dimension measurements. In addition, the data for the proper height adjustments have been set by OSHA. Based on data from OSHA, an experiment has been done to compare the height of the old design and the improved design, followed by REBA assessment. The result of this study is to show that the added height of the handle will improve the stature of the person, reduce the risk of having Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) and finally improve the usability of IAB.