Ambulance Designs And Specifications

[yakc130]

My employer recently handed this to me to take care of. I need to write the specs for Type II, Type III, and Medium Duty specialty units.

Anyone that has experience with this, please contact me. I've been saddled to do this all by myself, so assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[island emt]

My spec for our 2009 type III was about 32 pages long.

It can be as simple as asking for a salesman to send you what they typically use for a bid spec ,,, or you can spend a lot of time building your own detailed line item spec.

Google ambulance specs and read through a few to see how they are crafted.

[yakc130]

I started with that, and came up with some really good articles from Fire Chief magazine. Just kind of wondering how OCD some people get with their trucks, and what they want.

[island emt]

It all depends on what you want in a finished product. I've been on truck committees that wrote: The xxx fire dept. ia seeking bids for a type 3 ambulance to be used for ALS service.

On up to my last set which got us exactly what we wanted in a custom type III BLS/ALS transport truck. It has exactly the components we wanted in the layout we wanted and for the most part it was an off the shelf design with only a few things like the Know Narc safe added in.

I've found that in the competition today among ambulance builders that if you want a Whelen LED lighting package , you need to spec that or they will put some cheap chinese clone of Whelen LED's on the truck.

They are all assembling components and based on your location an extreme climate insulation package would be a requirement. Also an increased AC cooling capacity rating

You don't want simple fibreglass batt insulation stuffed in the walls , you want a foam thermal barrier type of insulation applied. this also makes the body much tighter and less likely to develop squeaks as it ages.

There are lots of ways to approach crafting a good set of generic specs that will allow several bidders .

The new NFPA spec is like everything else the fire service does. Over done.

Not For Practical Application.

I say this as a two hatter who's been in the service since 1971 and seen a lot of changes over the decades.

[craig]

put in what you like,

specs to the standard that you would want in an ambulance, however with all this work comes cost

more things you put in the specs, the more the outlay on the finished article

also specs have to fit all the vehicle and safety standards for vehicles of this type in your area.

some times better to look around and see whats on offer already

[island emt]

Thats exactly what we did Craig. We started out with a standard design and in our case a truck that has been built for many departments in our region.

The salesman is also a long time Paramedic who has come up with a package produced by PL Custom that is easily modified within reason.

Another big point for us was the length and coverage of the different Warrantee's

things like a lifetime structural on the body and completed unit. 10 year on Electrical system, 10 years on paint are important item to us.The ability to remount the box on a new chassis and get it done by them is another thing.

[island emt]

YAKC: Pm sent your way.

[yakc130]

Received. Thanks!

[island emt]

You should have mail doug.

[mikeymedic1984]

1. Send out surveys to your crews about what they want and don't want (doesn't mean you have follow all of their advice, but it might give you some good ideas).

2. Meet with other area services to find out what successes and failures they have had with various manufacturers. If you are tied to one manufacturer, talk to several of their customers to get feedback.

3. Be anal, as you will be stuck with this vehicle with several years.

4. Try to negotiate for increased perks and warranties (competition is a good thing).

5. Ford is moving to gasoline engines, the rest will still be diesels mostly; consider if gas is better.

6. Consider fuel economy; what would you buy if fuel was $6.00/gallon (it could happen).

7. Go to an EMS trade show if there is one nearby, in-time for your purchase. Manufacturers tend to show off their "best" trucks at these shows, and afterwards, they may still have this truck sitting on their lot until the next show. I would'nt necessarily buy it, but it should give you ideas of what is possible.