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No description available.

No description available.

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It is commonly accepted that ambulance staff undertake a large amount of lifting and handling in their daily work. Their primary role is to provide pre-hospital care and to transport sick and injured people to hospital. The emergency nature of the job means that ambulance workers have to assist people who are incapable of moving themselves in awkward and potentially hazardous environments. While safer lifting policies have been introduced ambulance workers still lift weights which other healthcare workers can avoid. However since the introduction of manual handling regulations and more recently CEN standards, ambulance services and manufacturers have been trying to find new ways of moving and transferring patients. Ambulance services have purchased new equipment to reduce musculoskeletal risks but there is little scientific evidence to support their purchasing choices. This thesis presents two case studies describing ergonomic equipment evaluations of stretcher loading systems and mobility equipment to provide a scientific basis to support purchasing decisions. Case study one is a comparative analysis of stretcher loading equipment used in UK ambulance services. The study was carried out in two phases. Phase 1 was a field study which used observation and interview methods to identify issues affecting equipment use in a range of environments. Phase 2 was a simulation study which used task simulation to assess the postures adopted during loading and unloading activities with each system. Both phases identified the tail lift as the preferred system to reduce manual handling and improve patient and operator safety. Case study two is a comparative evaluation of mobility equipment. User trials were carried out to evaluate 12 transport chairs and 4 stretchers for Accident and Emergency and Patient Transport Service staff to identify preferred equipment for each team. 16 staff assessed the equipment by conducting task simulations and completing questionnaires for each product. Postures adopted during the tasks were assessed using Rapid Entire Body Assessment. The mechanised stair climber chair was the preferred chair for both teams. The stretcher analysis was inconclusive. This thesis has used two case studies to establish a protocol for field and lab based evaluations of movement and transfer equipment in the future for the ambulance vehicle. A more comprehensive procurement process is recommended to include detailed ergonomic evaluation, ensuring that the end user is fully represented. The thesis concludes that automation is way forward to reduce manual handling risks posed to ambulance workers. The output from case study 1 (tail lift) has been included in the national specification for future Emergency Ambulances in the UK.

There are many important environmental issues involved in the construction and use of buildings which are either undergoing or require further research. The lack of detailed embodied energy assessments models has been identified and limits possible environmental analysis. This study examines the current state of research into the environmental impact of frame materials, assesses the quality and range of data available, sets up a new framework for evaluation of materials and uses several example structures to assess the environmental impact This has been achieved by, firstly, studying the environment related literature available concerning the frame of the building, separate from other considerations, to provide a clear understanding of the processes involved. Second, data is extracted from the literature and processed to provide a homogenous approach and level field from which frame analysis can take place. Gaps in the available data are identified. Third, the identified gaps are filled using data derived from sources ranging from manufacturers' literature to direct analysis of on site activities. Fourth, a model has been created to assess the environmental impact of the building frame. The factors assessed within the remit of environmental impact are: embodied energy, embodied CO2 and transportation hours. The embodied energy includes the primary energy for all raw materials, transportation, office overheads and contractor operations. These are calculated from the winning of raw materials, through manufacture, to demolition and recycling. Embodied CO2 encompasses the same range of data, but with respect to the CO2 transportation hours estimate the time spend on the road by vehicles involved in the embodied energy and CO2 calculations. Finally data from several buildings has been used, to evaluated the environmental merits of each with respect to each other and to other buildings for which calculations have been performed. Conclusions have been draw and. further work suggested.

Experimental studies are reported, on the single and binary component adsorption of various gases and organic vapours on activated carbons (Anthrasorb CC818H and CC818M) at different temperatures. Experiments were performed for methane, ethane, methane-ethane mixtures, acetone and carbon tetra-chloride vapours. Single component isotherms were established for all the adsorbates over a range of temperatures (-6 to 50°C). The empirical Langmuir and Freundlich models correlate the results well. The Polanyi adsorption potential theory depicts all of the single component data. Other empirical and theoretical isotherm equations were also tested. Binary isotherms were obtained for methane-ethane mixtures on both Anthrasorb CC818H and CC818M. An empirical method was employed to model the binary adsorption data using single component empirical Langmuir parameters to express the binary isotherm of each component in a given mixture. The Polanyi adsorption potential theory correlates the binary adsorption data fairly well. Breakthrough data for single and binary adsorbates (over a range of concentrations and flowrates) were obtained and mathematical models established which represents the results. A finite difference technique was used to model the fixed bed breakthrough data. Two simplified asymptotic models (linear driving force and pore diffusion control) were also used to correlate the single component data. For the binary adsorption of methane-ethane mixtures, a linear driving force model was successfully employed to correlate the experimental breakthrough curves. Isothermal fixed bed experiments to desorb acetone from Anthrasorb CC818H over the range of temperatures (150-250°C) showed that Anthrasorb can be used to completely remove such an organic vapour and be regenerated for further use.