Police
In order to maintain a visible presence in the community, police officers perform nearly all work duties in their vehicles. The existence of a steering wheel in their primary workspace creates unique challenges in terms of the positioning of equipment interfaces. Placing their computer keyboard directly in front of them interferes with the wheel. The dimensions of the seating space for the officers are limited by the existence of a cage for holding detained persons. Lastly, officers are required to have on their persons several pieces of equipment, including a firearm, radio, handcuffs, and other accessories, while also wearing a proscribed protective vest. This equipment impacts the amount of flexibility the officers have in choosing their seated position, as well as their comfort in general.
 
The purpose of this project is to document the exposures officers are subjected to within a typical workday. This exposure documentation is an important first step towards alleviating possible risks in the mobile workplace and quantification of these exposures is an initial step towards moving to improved designs which incorporate the unique challenges of this unique environment. The ultimate goal is to affect targeted design changes in police cruisers that maintain officer proficiency and safety while also removing ergonomics stressors.

CRE-MSD research aims to reduce MSDs for police officers