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Healthcare workers (HCWs) uniforms are subject to increasing debate regarding the levels of bacterial contamination and the clinical significance of any pathogenic contaminants. Some information is available within the literature, however much of this is dated, and there stilI lacks a standard, reproducible sampling method for use on HCWs uniforms that could be easily implemented worldwide. During this study there was recovery of S. aureus, MRSA, and Enterococcus spp. in communal staff changing rooms, clearly demonstrating that such non-patient areas present sources for the transmission of pathogenic bacteria between wards within the hospital. It was established that current international standard methods of determining antimicrobial activity in fabrics may not provide accurate indications of the efficacy of such products under ward conditions, or dealing effectively with "wild type" agents of hospital acquired infections. These findings suggest that further work is necessary in the development and use of such fabrics. Furthermore, contact plates were optimised as a method for the sampling of used nurses scrub suits and assessing the 'in-use' effect of antimicrobial impregnated fabrics. The main finding of this project was that scrub suits frequently became (and remained) heavily contaminated with pathogenic bacteria during ward use. MRSA was recovered from 40 % of standard nurses scrub suits, and 38% of antimicrobial impregnated (Permagard) scrub suits. Thus, the incorporation of Permagard fabric had no observable effect on the incidence of contamination on scrub suits under ward conditions. MRSA was enumerated at 1.65 cfus per 25 cm2 suggesting counts of around 100-200 cfus per 25 cm''.

Performance clothing is a rapidly expanding sector of the outdoor industry. It encompasses a broad range of products, from those that have enabled man to explore the most inhospitable places on earth to garments worn for fashion where function is rarely tested. Performance requirements are complex; the clothing must deal with the body's own responses, whilst simultaneously protecting it from the sometimes extreme weather conditions it may face and, increasingly, it must do so without sacrificing visual appeal. investigations into the technological requirements of fabrics for performance clothing are numerous, but little academic work explores the relation hip between the design methods employed and the resulting performance, particularly in the light of changing market demands. This thesis explores the relationship between the changing market, design processes and the intended performance and aims to develop an ideal design process for performance clothing. The literature review set out the history of the outdoor industry and identified the importance of lead-users in its development. The relationship between innovation and design was explored. After a general appraisal of design processes and methods, the literature review focused on those specific to clothing, and discusses the particular design challenges raised by performance clothing requirements. To gain an overview of the factors which have influenced the design process in the outdoor industry, interview. were carried out individual playing key roles in performance clothing industry, both in the past and presently. The data generated was analysed for theme including design process and market evolution - the result of which provoked questions about how design processes had responded to the industry’ s expansion. To test the effectiveness of the standard design process, hood design was explored through a range of laboratory tests on a selection of hardshell garments. The results indicate that there are aspects of the design process that could be improved. Based on these findings, an idealised design process is proposed to help improve design practice and product performance for outdoor clothing across the industry.

Smart Clothing, the convergent future of the electronics and clothing industries, struggles to reach its true potential and enter the mass market because of 1) imbalanced contributions from the electronics and clothing sectors, 2) the lack of an integrated approach to optimise the input from the different areas, and 3) the unclear direction of the products. There is a need for an NPD process that balances all contributions and addresses new values based on user requirements. Moreover, a strategic approach, that challenges the development teams to go beyond their existing creative boundary and reconciles their differences, is required. According to the research, Smart Clothes should take the design approach of functional clothing and focus on the area of sportswear, personal healthcare and physical monitoring, as they fit the users’ lifestyle and requirements. Since social acceptance is an important factor, Smart Clothes must also have a good design and whilst, at the same time, perform all the basic functions that ordinary garments do. They should allow the user to personalise the styles and functions according to the benefits, with respect to product lifecycle and disassembly. A conceptual model of the NPD process was developed and tested with experts in this field. The proposed model provides the basis for a computer software to plan and manage product development teams and activities at the front-end of the NPD process. It offers several advantages: 1. Combining the NPD models and those of collaborative development 2. Providing a holistic view of Smart Clothing development 3. Clarifying of the roles of all participants within the collaborative development teams 4. Describing the responsibilities and expected contributions of all participants 5. Explaining working relationships and overlapping roles and responsibilities 6. Offering the directions for the creative boundary extension

There are many situations where workers are required to wear personal protective clothing (PPC), to protect against a primary hazard, such as heat or chemicals. But the PPC can also create ergonomic problems and there are important side effects which typically increase with rising protection requirements. The most extensively studied side effect is that of increased heat strain due to reduced heat and vapour transfer from the skin. Less studied is the extra weight, bulk and stiffness of PPC garments which is likely to increase the energy requirements of the worker, reduce the range of movement and lead to impaired performance. Current heat and cold stress standards assume workers are wearing light, vapour permeable clothing. By failing to consider the metabolic effects of actual PPC garments, the standards will underestimate heat production and therefore current standards cannot be accurately applied to workers wearing PPC. Information on the effect of the clothing on the wearer and the interactions between PPC, wearer and environment is limited. Data was collected to quantify the effect of PPC on metabolic load based on the properties of the PPC for the EU THERMPROTECT project (GERD-CT-2002-00846). The main objective of the project was to provide data to allow heat and cold stress assessment standards to be updated so that they need no longer exclude specialised protective clothing. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effect of PPC and its properties on energy consumption during work. For this purpose, the effects of a range of PPC garments (Chapter 3), weight (Chapter 4), number of layers and material friction (Chapter 5) and wet layers (Chapter 6) on energy consumption whilst walking, stepping and completing an obstacle course were studied. The impact of PPC on range of movement in the lower limbs was also investigated (Chapter 7). The main findings were; a) Increased metabolic cost of 2.4 - 20.9% when walking, stepping and completing an obstacle course in PPC compared to a control condition. b) An average metabolic rate increase of 2.7% per kg increase in clothing weight, with greater increases with clothing that is heavier on the limbs and in work requiring greater ranges of movement. c) 4.5 to 7.9% increase in metabolic cost of walking and completing an obstacle course wearing 4 layers compared to a single layer control condition of the same weight. d) Changes in range of movement in PPC due to individual behavioural adaptations. e) Garment torso bulk is the strongest correlate of an increased metabolic rate when working in PPC (r=0.828, p<0.001). f) Garment leg bulk (r=0.615), lower sleeve weight (r=0.655) and weight of the garment around the crotch (r=0.638) are also all positively correlated with an increased metabolic rate. Total clothing weight and clothing insulation had r values of 0.5 and 0.35 respectively. This thesis has confirmed the major effect of clothing on metabolic rate, and the importance of including this effect in standards and models.

A qualitative description of the personal armour design system is elicited by comparing armour throughout the ages. Inputs that 'shape' designs are the materials technology, threat, wearer, task and environment. The emergent properties of protection, ergonomic effectiveness and financial cost form the basis of trade-offs to select final solutions. Work on the protection subsystem refines the key positive emergent property of personal armour. Existing quantifications of protection effectiveness are rejected in favour of a novel measure named the Usefulness Factor, UF. This is the first measure that accounts for the real benefit of armour. A five-stage model is proposed for the assessment of protection. Two feedback loops - due to making tasks as safe as possible and the ergonomic penalty of armour are evident. These must be considered in order to assess protection correctly. Casualty reduction analysis software (CASPER) is used to produce 'approach plots' and 'zones of usefulness' in order to make tasks safer and map the benefit of armour. This approach is demonstrated with the UK's Lightweight Combat EOD Suit against L2A2 and No. 36 Mills grenades, an HB876 area denial mine, a BL 755 sub-munition and a 105mm artillery shell. Assessment of secondary fragmentation from antipersonnel (AP) blast mines defines a threat input that is specific to Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). Trials are carried out with explosive charges of 50g to 500g, buried under 5 or 10cm of stones and sand at a range of 1m. The threat is defined in terms of the probabilities of (a) being hit, (b) a hit perforating armour and (c) a hit incapacitating an unarmoured person. The chances of being hit close to the ground decrease to approximately 15% of the value when directly above the mine. Secondary fragmentation is not likely to perforate armour that protects against primary fragments. However, it is likely to incapacitate an unarmoured person. Protection is traded-off against proxies for ergonomic and financial cost effectiveness by using quantitative optimisation of personal armour. This introduces the concept of a 'protection optimisation envelope', which defines the bounds of possibility rather than a single solution. CASPER is adapted to produce weight and cost as well as incapacitation parameters. This provides a model that generates both benefits and constraints of armour. Hence, the foundations are laid for the world's first fully integrated personal armour design tools. The ergonomic effectiveness subsystem is the primary constraint of personal armour. Visor demisting for the UK's Mk 5 EOD Suit provides a simple example. Existing methods of assessment of the ergonomic penalty of armour are considered. A novel development of biomechanics computational models is proposed to predict both the mechanical and thermal burdens of armour.