Revision of body size criteria in standards - protecting people who work at height

The Ergonomics and Safety Research Institute was commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive to consider whether the body size criteria in standards which are used to test Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) safety needed revision. Currently, the PPE for workers at height is tested using a mass of 100 kg (BS EN 361: 2002), this being the minimum chosen weight to test this equipment. The 100kg mass represents the 95%ile weight of the UK adult population; this weight has also been used to represent the working at height population. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many people who work at height do not fall within the normal size distribution of UK adults on which the 100 kg was based on. The main aims of this research were to determine the actual weight distribution of individuals who work at height, also to collect basic anthropometric and demographic data, to establish whether the current relevant design standards are sufficient A total of 589 people who worked at height comprised the sample; 15 body measurements as well as demographic data were taken from each participant. Two additional dimensions were calculated (Weight of Equipment and Working Weight), to provide information on how much equipment people were carrying while working at height and to determine the total weight of the worker if they were to fall from height. Clothed Body Mass Index was also calculated for participants. Workers were allocated to one of 10 industry categories for more detailed analysis of the data. The re-sampling technique of bootstrapping was used on these data, as it provides distributions and confidence limits for any statistic. Bootstrapped confidence intervals for the 99th and 95th percentiles are given for Weight and for Working Weight. Results show that the current figure of 100 kg significantly underestimates the actual 95th percentile for workers Weight Without Equipment. It is likely (95% confidence) that the interval 112.3 kg 118.4 kg covers the true value of the 95th percentile for Weight Without Equipment and the interval 116.2 kg 122.0 kg covers the true value of the 95th percentile for Working Weight. Results also suggest that the torso dummy currently specified in BS EN 364: 1993 generally under-represents the size of people who work at height. Data that could be used in the design of a full bodied dummy or safety nets to prevent limb penetrations are presented

Soil functions and ecosystem services research in the Chinese karst Critical Zone

Covering extensive parts of China, karst is a critically important landscape that has experienced rapid and intensive land use change and associated ecosystem degradation within only the last 50 years. In the natural state, key ecosystem services delivered by these landscapes include regulation of the hydrological cycle, nutrient cycling and supply, carbon storage in soils and biomass, biodiversity and food production. Intensification of agriculture since the late-20th century has led to a rapid deterioration in Critical Zone (CZ) state, evidenced by reduced crop production and rapid loss of soil. In many areas, an ecological ‘tipping point’ appears to have been passed as basement rock is exposed and ‘rocky desertification’ dominates. This paper reviews contemporary research of soil processes and ecosystems service delivery in Chinese karst ecosystems, with an emphasis on soil degradation and the potential for ecosystem recovery through sustainable management. It is clear that currently there is limited understanding of the geological, hydrological and ecological processes that control soil functions in these landscapes, which is critical for developing management strategies to optimise ecosystem service delivery. This knowledge gap presents a classic CZ scientific challenge because an integrated multi-disciplinary approach is essential to quantify the responses of soils in the Chinese karst CZ to extreme anthropogenic perturbation, to develop a mechanistic understanding of their resilience to environmental stressors, and thereby to inform strategies to recover and maintain sustainable soil function. © 2019 Elsevier B.V

OECD principles on water governance in practice:an assessment of existing frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America

Through the lens of the 12 OECD Principles on Water Governance, this article examines six water resources and water services frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America to understand enhancing and constraining contextual factors. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analyze each framework against four criteria: alignment; implementation; on-ground results; and policy impact. Four main target areas are identified for improving water governance: policy coherence; financing; managing trade-offs; and ensuring integrity and transparency by all decision makers and stakeholders. Suggestions are presented to support practical implementation of the principles through better government action and stakeholder involvement.No Full Tex

UNBOUND

Featured here, are the extraordinary works of our graduating Fashion Design class. This accomplishment is truly a celebration of the tree years of passion, hard work, and dedication of our students. It\u27s our hope that the fashion industry will partake in the creative endeavors of the emerging designers from the Fashion Design program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.https://first.fanshawec.ca/famd_design_fashiondesign_unbound/1002/thumbnail.jp

Characterization of tomato Cycling Dof Factors reveals conserved and new functions in the control of flowering time and abiotic stress responses

[EN] DNA binding with One Finger (DOF) transcription factors are involved in multiple aspects of plant growth and development but their precise roles in abiotic stress tolerance are largely unknown. Here we report a group of five tomato DOF genes, homologous to Arabidopsis Cycling DOF Factors (CDFs), that function as transcriptional regulators involved in responses to drought and salt stress and flowering-time control in a gene-specific manner. SlCDF15 are nuclear proteins that display specific binding with different affinities to canonical DNA target sequences and present diverse transcriptional activation capacities in vivo. SlCDF15 genes exhibited distinct diurnal expression patterns and were differentially induced in response to osmotic, salt, heat, and low-temperature stresses. Arabidopsis plants overexpressing SlCDF1 or SlCDF3 showed increased drought and salt tolerance. In addition, the expression of various stress-responsive genes, such as COR15, RD29A, and RD10, were differentially activated in the overexpressing lines. Interestingly, overexpression in Arabidopsis of SlCDF3 but not SlCDF1 promotes late flowering through modulation of the expression of flowering control genes such as CO and FT. Overall, our data connect SlCDFs to undescribed functions related to abiotic stress tolerance and flowering time through the regulation of specific target genes and an increase in particular metabolites.This work was supported by grants from Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA; project numbers: 2009-0004-C01, 2012-0008-C01), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project number: BIO2010-14871), and the MERIT Project (FP7 ITN2010-264474). ARC was supported by a pre-doctoral fellowship from the INIA. The authors would like to thank Mar Gonzalez and Victor Carrasco for technical assistance and Dr Pablo Gonzalez-Melendi for technical handling of the confocal microscope. We also thank Eugenio Grau for technical assistance with RT-PCR analyses.Corrales, A.; González Nebauer, S.; Carrillo, L.; Fernández Nohales, P.; Marques Signes, J.; Renau Morata, B.; Granell, A.... (2014). Characterization of tomato Cycling Dof Factors reveals conserved and new functions in the control of flowering time and abiotic stress responses. Journal of Experimental Botany. 65(4):995-1012. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ert451S9951012654AbuQamar, S., Luo, H., Laluk, K., Mickelbart, M. V., & Mengiste, T. (2009). Crosstalk between biotic and abiotic stress responses in tomato is mediated by theAIM1transcription factor. The Plant Journal, 58(2), 347-360. doi:10.1111/j.1365-313x.2008.03783.xAlonso, R., Oñate-Sánchez, L., Weltmeier, F., Ehlert, A., Diaz, I., Dietrich, K., … Dröge-Laser, W. (2009). 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Extending the authority for sickness certification beyond the medical profession: the importance of 'boundary work'

The study aimed to explore the views of general practitioners (GPs), nurses and physiotherapists towards extending the role of sickness certification beyond the medical profession in primary care

Effectiveness of a national quality improvement programme to improve survival after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH): a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Emergency abdominal surgery is associated with poor patient outcomes. We studied the effectiveness of a national quality improvement (QI) programme to implement a care pathway to improve survival for these patients. METHODS: We did a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised trial of patients aged 40 years or older undergoing emergency open major abdominal surgery. Eligible UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (those that had an emergency general surgical service, a substantial volume of emergency abdominal surgery cases, and contributed data to the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit) were organised into 15 geographical clusters and commenced the QI programme in a random order, based on a computer-generated random sequence, over an 85-week period with one geographical cluster commencing the intervention every 5 weeks from the second to the 16th time period. Patients were masked to the study group, but it was not possible to mask hospital staff or investigators. The primary outcome measure was mortality within 90 days of surgery. Analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN80682973. FINDINGS: Treatment took place between March 3, 2014, and Oct 19, 2015. 22 754 patients were assessed for elegibility. Of 15 873 eligible patients from 93 NHS hospitals, primary outcome data were analysed for 8482 patients in the usual care group and 7374 in the QI group. Eight patients in the usual care group and nine patients in the QI group were not included in the analysis because of missing primary outcome data. The primary outcome of 90-day mortality occurred in 1210 (16%) patients in the QI group compared with 1393 (16%) patients in the usual care group (HR 1·11, 0·96-1·28). INTERPRETATION: No survival benefit was observed from this QI programme to implement a care pathway for patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Future QI programmes should ensure that teams have both the time and resources needed to improve patient care. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme

Recidivist risk takers who work at height

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE, 2003) around 70 people a year are killed as a result of a fall from height at work and a further 4,000 are seriously injured. Whilst the risk is repeatedly recognised, the reduction of accidents is hampered by individuals who acknowledge that they know and comprehend best practice, but fail to apply it in real life. It is highly likely that the majority of accidents could be avoided if individuals followed the safety procedures laid down for their protection. However, some other, as yet concealed and overriding, influence appears to modify behaviour so as to reduce the level of safety accepted. If this is under the jurisdiction of the individual, it may be accepted voluntarily. The motivations for this are unclear as yet, but may prove to be the most important element in accident causation. It is suggested that the cause is related to the individual’s capacity to predict the likelihood of low probability events, especially those believed to be under their control. Because of their inability to accurately assess the probability and the consequence of an accident occurring to them, they are unable to take appropriate safety measures. However, it is hypothesised that this attitude would shift if an individual is exposed to an accident and becomes fully aware of the possibility of their own involvement and the consequences of an accident