Protección colectiva contra caídas para trabajadores de la construcción

Construction safety regulations require protection of workers against falls from elevations. The collective fall protection systems, in most cases, allow workers to move freely without wearing individual fall protection gear. The collective systems which prevent falls are preferred over the fall arrest systems. The latter are employed only if prevention of falls is not feasible. Arresting a fall always carries with it a residual risk of injury to the fall victim. The collective fall arrest systems are employed primarily during construction of electricity or telecomm towers. The aim of this paper has been a review of the collective FPS employed in the construction industry.Las normas de seguridad en la construcción requieren de protección para los trabajadores contra las caídas desde altura. Los Sistemas de Protección contra Caídas (FPS, por sus siglas en inglés) colectivos, en la mayoría de los casos, permiten que los trabajadores se muevan libremente sin usar un equipo de protección contra caídas individual. Los sistemas colectivos de prevención de caídas son preferibles a los sistemas de detención de caídas, estos últimos se emplean sólo si la prevención de las caídas no es factible. La detención de una caída siempre lleva consigo un riesgo residual de lesiones en la víctima accidentada. Los sistemas colectivos de detención de caídas se emplean principalmente en la construcción de torres de electricidad o telecomunicaciones. El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido la revisión de los sistemas colectivos de protección contra caídas empleados en la industria de la construcción

An innovative cost modelling system to support lean product and process development

This paper presents a cost modelling system for lean product and process development to support proactive decision making and mistake elimination at the design stage. The foundations of the system are based upon three lean product and process development enablers, namely: Set-based concurrent engineering, knowledge-based engineering, and mistake proofing (Poka-yoke). The development commenced with an industrial field study of eleven leading European industries from the aerospace, automotive, telecommunication, medical and domestic appliance sectors. Based on the requirements of industrial collaborators, the developed system comprises six modules: value identification, manufacturing process/machines selection, material selection, geometric features specification, geometric features and manufacturability assessment, and manufacturing time and cost estimation. The work involved the development of a feature-based cost estimation method for the resistance spot welding process. The developed system was finally validated using an industrial case study. The developed system has the capability to provide estimates related to product cost and associated values concurrently, facilitate decision making, eliminate mistakes during the design stage, and incorporate ‘customer voice’ during a critical decision making stage

Pulmonary oedema fluid induces non-α-ENaC-dependent Na+ transport and fluid absorption in the distal lung

To determine if pulmonary oedema fluid (EF) alters ion and fluid transport of distal lung epithelium (DLE), EF was collected from rats in acute heart failure. EF, but not plasma, increased amiloride-insensitive short circuit current (Isc) and Na+–K+ ATPase protein content and pump activity of DLE grown in primary culture. Inhibitors of Cl− transport or cGMP-gated cation channels had a significant (P < 0.05), but limited ability to block the increased Isc. EF increased amiloride-insensitive, but not amiloride-sensitive, DLE apical membrane Na+ conductance. The level of mRNA encoding epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) subunits was unchanged (α, β), or decreased (γ, P < 0.05) in EF-exposed DLE. EF also induced an amiloride-insensitive increase in the potential difference across murine tracheal cysts. Distal lung explants from late gestation wild-type and α-ENaC-deficient fetal mice, which normally expand due to liquid secretion, decreased in size due to liquid absorption when exposed to EF. Trypsin digestion or heat treatment of EF abrogated the ability of EF to increase amiloride-insensitive Isc in DLE and liquid absorption by distal lung explants. Thus proteins or protein-dependent factors within cardiogenic EF induce an α-ENaC-independent and amiloride-insensitive apical membrane Na+ conductance and liquid absorption in the distal lung