REALISTIC CAPACITY LIMITS FOR MARINE PASSENGER SAFETY:ADULT BODY WEIGHT DISTRIBUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

摘要

Transportation and lift systems usually incorporate maximum capacity specifications fordesign, testing, and operation. Whether maximum capacity is specified directly inkilograms, or indirectly as maximum number of adults, user safety depends on accurateand logical relationships between system specifications and the upper limits of bodyweight distributions in the user population. This study utilizes recent data from theNational Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and bootstrapmethodology to establish meaningful weight capacity limits for small (10 person) marinecraft, concluding that the average adult weight of 75 kg used to establish capacity limitsfor small marine craft in several ISO standards is far too low to represent contemporaryUS adults. This study indicates that a randomly selected group of 10 adult males willexceed the 750 kg capacity 97.6% of the time, and a group of 5 adult males and 5 adultfemales will exceed the 750 kg capacity 80.1% of the time. In fact, this study suggeststhat a design and testing assumption of 97.5 kg per adult (975 kg for 10 people) isneeded to ensure that groups of 10 adult males (the worst case for small craft design) arewithin capacity limits 95% of the time.