High-tech vehicle design boosts emergency rescu...( The EUREKA E! 3722 4 SAVE project ha...)

The EUREKA E! 3722 4 SAVE project has resulted in a design for high tech polyvalent rescue vehicles able to take paramedics to a disaster area and immediately carry up to four patients away for treatment. The key element was the development of a completely new type of four-stretcher support that can be installed in different vehicles. The box kit uses high performance materials and can be adapted to a range of vehicles while offering weight reductions of up to 50% compared with previous products. Principal specifications include the ability to withstand a loading of 10 G, equivalent to an unbraked impact at 30 km/h. The rescue vehicles are easy and safe to operate, and simple to clean and disinfect.

Environment disasters and terrorist attacks are putting ever increasing pressure on the rescue services as they often have to take care of a high number of victims in a very short period. In particular, there is a need to get medical teams to a disaster area rapidly with all the equipment they require and to transfer as many patients as possible to hospital or other place for treatment as quickly as possible.

The 4 SAVE project therefore set out to increase the carrying capacity of rescue vehicles by developing a self-supporting double-deck four-stretcher system that could be fitted to a range of different on- and off-road vehicles. It had not only to surpass current safety standards significantly but also to have higher strength with lower total weight.

German project co-ordinator System Strobel has been building ergonomic rescue, ambulance and emergency response vehicles for more than 20 years. It started as a vehicle body repair shop some 60 years ago but became involved in adapting standard vans to emergency use and improving the interior design of ambulances at the request of its local St John Ambulance Brigade.

Success in this area led to a rapid expansion in the design an
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