ERGONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF KOROPE MINIBUSES
ABSTRACT
The objective research work was to carry out an ergonomic assessment of the korope buses plying Osunroads, in other to determine their suitability to the passenger. These was achieved by collecting the anthropometric data of korope bus users and comparing them with the passenger environment inside the korope buses.
An aluminum venial caliper was used to measured stature, knee height, shoulder breadth, hip breadth and sitting among other anthropometry variables measure. Also the of metal meter tape, some of the design variable measured ware: seat height, seat length, seat width and back rest. For korope buses, 595 passengers were measured.
The result showed that male passenger were significantly larger than female in the 95th percentile in all anthropometric variables considered except in the maximum body breadth.
However, due to some unsuitability of some design variables of korope buses, appropriate ergonomic design specification were propose for the future construction of korope buese due to the research data.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Table of Contents v
Lists of Figures viii
Lists of Tables ix
Abstract x
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 PREAMBLES 1
1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES 2
1.3 SCOPE 3
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 4
2.1 TRANSPORTATION IN NIGERIA 4
2.1.1 ROAD NETWORK 4
2.2 OSUN STATE 5
2.2.1 TRANSPORTATION IN OSUN STATE 6
2.3 KOROPE (MINI BUS) 6
2.4 ERGONOMICS 9
2.4.1 FIELDS OF ERGONOMICS 11
2.4.2 ERGONOMICS ASSESSMENT OF BUSES 14
2.4.2.1 PASSENGER ENVIRONMENT 14
2.5 ANTHROPOMETRIC (BODY MEASUREMENT) 15
2.5.1 CLASSES OF ANTHROPOMETRY 15
2.5.2 KOROPE USERS ANTHROPOMETRY 16
2.6 ANTHROPOMETRIC ANALYSIS IN MINI BUSES 16
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 METHODOLOGY 18
3.1 EQUIPMENT USED FOR MEASURING ANTHROPOMETRY 18
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 35
4.1 RESULTS OF THE MEASURED ANTHROPOMETRIC DATA 35
4.1.1 COMPARISONS OF ANTHROPOMETRIC VARIABLES BETWEEN
MALE AND FEMALE KOROPE PASSENGERS 40
4.2 RESULT OF THE COMPARISON OF THE ANTROPOMETRIC DATA
OF PASSENGERS TO KOROPE PASSENGER ENVIRONMENT 40
4.3 DISCUSSION AND DATA ANALYSIS 43
4.3.1 PASSENGER ENVIRONMENT INSIDE KOROPE BUSES 43
4.3.2 COMMENT AND SUGESTION 46
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 47
5.1 CONCLUSION 47
5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 47
5.2.1 RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER WORK 47
REFERENCES 48
APPENDIX A 51
APPENDIX B 71
LISTS OF FIGURES
Fig 2.1 Example of mini bus 8
Fig 2.2 General dimensions of the HFE discipline 10
Fig 3.1 Aluminum venial caliper 19
Fig 3.2 Photograph taken during a measuring session using an Aluminum venial caliper 20
Fig 3.3 Metal tape rule 22
Fig 3.4 Photograph taken during a measuring session using a tape rule 23
Fig 3.3 Standing height 25
Fig 3.4 Anthropometric measurements 2-10 26
Fig 3.5 Some labeled parts of the passenger environment 29
LIST OF TABLE
Table 4.1 Percentile calculated for male anthropometric variables 36
Table 4.2 Percentile calculated for female anthropometric variables 37
Table 4.3 Percentile calculate for passenger environment variables 38
Table 4.4 Result of the maximium and minimum range for the passenger
environment variables 41
Table 4.6 Result of the comparison of anthropometric data of male passengers to
korope passenger environment 42
Table 4.8 Summary of data collected through the questionnaires administered to
the korope bus passengers 44
CHAPTER ONE
1.0. INTRODUCTION
1.1. PREAMBLES
Ergonomics (human factors) as the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of the interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data, and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance(The International Ergonomics Association IEA, 2003). Ergonomists contribute to the design and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environments, and systems to make them compatible with the needs, abilities, and limitations of people. Ergonomics discipline promotes a holistic, human-centered approach to work systems design that considers physical, cognitive social, organizational, environmental, and other relevant factors Karwowski, 2001; Vicente, 2004; Stanton et al., 2004).
According to Karwowski, 2005, Over the last 50 years, ergonomics, a term that is used here synonymously with human factors has been evolving as a unique and independent discipline that focuses on the nature of human–artifact interactions, viewed from the unified perspective of the science, engineering, design, technology, and management of human-compatible systems, including a variety of natural and artificial products, processes, and living environments. The main aim of ergonomics is to ensure the Human–Technology, Technology–System, Human–System and Human–Machine relationships. Therefore, ergonomists put human needs, ability and limitation at the focus of designing and evaluating tasks, jobs, products, environments and systems.
Korope are examples of mini buses that are used as a fixed routes public transit and passenger carrying buses within Osun state and its locality with the usual colour combination of
blue with yellow stripe. These buses are designed to carry fewer people than the normal full size buses. Although, there are other buses of different sizes and sitting capacity (Between 7 to 30 seats) but korope has the maximum of 7 seating capacity. That is the maximum passenger korope can occupy is 7 passenger; the driver exclusive. These buses are locally built or fabricated in places like Lagos state and in Ibadan.
1.2 Aim and Objectives
The aim of this project work is to make use of Artificial Neural Network for the Allocation of Anthropometric in Minibuses (Korope).
The objectives of this research are:
To collect the anthropometric data of the passengers of minibuses (korope) and design data in the passengers’ compartments and their environment, inside the buses; To determine the percentiles of users that the buses could accommodate and
To propose appropriate ergonomic design specifications of minibuses (korope) based on the determined percentile and the anthropometric data of passengers collected.
1.3. Scope
Strictly minibuses (korope) buses operating in Osogbo were the main focus for this research work. All ranges of passengers riding in minibuses (korope) buses were considered. Minimum of 1000 passengers were considered for each anthropometric variable to be measured. Minimum of 50 buses were put into consideration.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Transportation in Nigeria
Throughout the history of human settlements, transportation has always been closely related to the structure and density of settlements and the use of land. In almost all pre-industrial and traditional towns and cities, settlements and their market areas were small and compact, confining most activities within walking distance. The introduction of mechanized transport enabled a huge expansion of the scope of travel and the size of cities and led to settlements remaining relatively compact and clustered along the transportation channels (Adeniji, 1983).
The Land area (sq. km) in Nigeria was last reported at 910770 in 2010, according to a World Bank report published in 2012. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.
Road transportation is the prevailing form of transportation in the world. Humans can decide to use the road either by walking or by other means such as bicycle, motor cycle, cars, buses, rail and the use of domestic animals.
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