Westfield, IN — After five years and countless hours of collaboration, research, development and testing, EMS crews riding in the patient compartment of ambulances manufactured by Horton Emergency Vehicles will have added protection from frontal impact collisions.
IMMI and Horton Emergency Vehicles, part of the REV Group, unveiled the next level in safety last Thursday when they announced the rollout of MBrace, which is advanced head and neck protection for EMS crews in the patient compartment. MBrace is an addition to Horton Occupant Protection Systems (HOPS), which includes existing EMS crew restraints.
“Pioneering safety is in Horton’s DNA, and our partnerships with industry leaders, such as IMMI, have enabled us to keep advancing the level of safety that is available to emergency care providers,” said Mike Albers, vice president and general manager for Horton Emergency Vehicles during last week's unveiling, which included a crash test.
In data shared during the event, research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicated that 80 percent of ambulance accidents that resulted in serious injuries or deaths were from frontal impacts.
With that, the collaboration between Horton and IMMI resulted in MBrace, which provides crews in the patient compartment with added protection from frontal impact collisions while still allowing crews the mobility they need during patient care.
“What we’re going to see here today is the next level of safety,” said REV Ambulance Group President Mark Van Arnam.
MBrace builds on IMMI’s existing Per4Max four-point harness, which only needs one click for the crew member to wear it properly. Per4Max, which was released in 2018, allows those delivering patient care to stand, stretch and reach while being protected.
MBrace will be standard for the CPR seat and two positions on the squad bench on orders placed after April 1. It is not available on the front attendant seat currently but Per4Max is still the standard offering for that position.
Horton Director of Engineering Jorge Jorge said the time between the collision and the restraints activating is 30 milliseconds – an almost instant reaction to shield the crews.
The crash sensor is located under the passenger seat.
MBrace will be standard for the CPR seat and two positions on the squad bench on orders placed after April 1. It is not available on the front attendant seat currently.
“The front attendant seat is all about mobility, sliding and swiveling and it’s a lot more that goes into it,” said Dave Marshal, director of sales for Horton Emergency Vehicles. “Why hold this up, right? Let’s get this out there.”
“This was important to us and we pushed through during COVID-19,” Marshall said, adding that testing was a challenge with chain supply issues and vehicle availability.
There was an arduous testing process, according to Marshall, noting the testing completed on the prototypes, materials and they conducted crash tests on multiple ambulances at IMMI’s Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE) facility.
Attendees to the event were able witness a live crash test at CAPE. The test showed a 2006 medium-duty ambulance crashing head-on into a concrete wall at 27 mph. Later in the event, video captured inside and outside the ambulance crash showed the force of the impact and how the MBrace activated and the air bags deployed to protect the crash test dummies. The white airbags popped out of the harness and surrounded the head, neck and shoulders - similar to a pillow worn by airline passengers.
“Even today, this was part of the test and we wanted to make sure everything worked like it was supposed to and it did exactly what it’s supposed to do,” Marshall said, pointing to the video that showed the rapid deployment.
“It’s all about those guys,” Marshall said. “I don’t have (EMS work) in me and for those guys to be able to do that, we want to make sure they are protected. But it all comes down to them buckling up.”
The MBrace is NFPA compliant and comes in four colors—red, orange, yellow and black. The material, which underwent testing for comfort, features easy to clean surfaces.
“What we want to do in every industry that we serve is and, with a serious crash, we want to make it a walk-away and that’s our goal,” said IMMI CEO Larry Gray “And with some of the technology and some of the advancements made with safety, we know it’s possible.”
Marshall said that departments that have previously ordered ambulances from Horton and are not on the production line may be eligible to have the life-saving technology included in their specification. He recommended that agencies contact their Horton dealer to understand the options.
MBrace will also be available for Horton ambulance bodies that are remounted at the REV Remount facility in Grove City, OH.
Benford Rosenfeldt, a firefighter/paramedic with the Lake Hills, IN, Fire Department said this technology is “leaps and bounds” ahead of what is available for today’s responders.
His department is a combination agency that provides ALS services, and he has spent a lot of time in the patient compartment of ambulances over the last 13 years.
“I love taking care of people and, at the same time I love coming home to my family and just knowing that someone has our backs just we have the public’s back is a really good feeling,” Rosenfeldt said.
