Some people consider that small cars necessarily have low secondary safety, i.e., a relatively high probability of serious injury to their occupants. In collisions with other vehicles, this is true, as there is a strong effect of mass ratio. Beyond that, this paper will argue there is probably little or no further effect. Three lines of evidence are presented to support this. • Theoretical anal...

One hundred ninety-five rear impacts with both front- and rear-seat occupants in the struck car, where at least one occupant sustained permanent disability, were selected for study. There was a significantly higher disability risk for the female rear-seat occupant compared with the male driver. Furthermore, a higher risk was found for female rear-seat occupants compared with female front-seat p...

This paper presents key elements on which to base the design of a strategy for a particular indoor environment measurement task. Starting from a general strategy for responding to occupant complaints and conducting epidemiological and intervention studies the paper concentrates on selected key elements, with focus on air contaminants. Strategies for grouping of occupants with the purpose of exp...

Thermal comfort of building occupants is a major criterion in evaluating the performance of building systems. It is also a dominant factor in designing and optimizing building’s operation. However, existing thermal comfort models, such as Finger’s model currently adopted by ASHRAE Standard 55, rely on factors that require bulky and expensive equipment to measure. This paper attempts to take a r...

Enhancing evacuee safety is a key factor in reducing the number of injuries and deaths that result from earthquakes. One way this can be achieved is by training occupants. Virtual Reality (VR) and Serious Games (SGs), represent novel techniques that may overcome the limitations of traditional training approaches. VR and SGs have been examined in the fire emergency context; however, their applic...

Pickup trucks have become increasingly popular in the United States. A recent study found that in crashes involving fatalities, cargo area passengers were 3 times more likely to die than were occupants in the cab. Compared with restrained cab occupants, the risk of death for those in the cargo area was 8 times higher. Furthermore, the increased use of extended-cab pickup trucks and air bag-equi...

This study applies NASS/CDS, GES and FARS data to examine occupant exposure plus injury and fatality rates for belted occupants in frontal crashes by seating position, age and gender. The NASS data was used to examine the distributions by crash severity. The GES data showed that when two elderly occupants (age 65+) were present, the female occupied the right front passenger position 73% of the ...

Drivers have been running an “arms race” on American roads by buying inc reasingly large vehicles such as SUVs and light trucks. An important reason for the popularity of large vehicles is that families view them as providing better protection to their occupants if a crash occurs. But when families drive large vehicles, they pose an increased danger to occupants of smaller vehicles and to pedes...

The sick-building syndrome (SBS) is defined as the occurrence of an excessive number of subjective complaints by the occupants of a building. These complaints include headache, irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, lethargy, inability to concentrate, objectionable odors, and less frequently, nausea, dizziness, chest tightness, etc. These complaints will always be reported by a fraction of t...