Contamination; mixing the bad withย the good. In this case, getting Ebola virus on yourself.ย As a worker takes off protective clothingย is when they’re most likely to get exposed. Every effort to makeย the awkward disrobing processย easier is a step in the direction of increased safety. Turns out that tabs are a great feature for making this happen.
One sourceย of maker innovation comes fromย applying the ideas ofย one discipline toย another. In this case, looking into wet suit designย provided insight for improving PPE suits. Everybody knows that removing a back-entry wet suit starts with pulling down a zipper with a long strap attached. Why not do the same with PPE and add strapsย toย back-entry suits? Also, to have the greatest impact on the current Ebola epidemic itย would be cheaper and speedier to apply retrofits to existing equipment.
So where could tabs or straps be added to a PPEย to make removalย easier and safer? Under the leadership ofย Nicole Daphne Tricoukes,ย a team which includedย Kailey Shara and Brian Russellย set out to answer that question. The results were three distinct sets of tabs which could be added to existing suits which enhanceย safety whileย disrobing.
First, to peel off aย back-entry PPE suit requires a bit of physical gymnastic and if you’re trying to avoid contamination this isn’t a good thing. Ideally clean hands would only touch the clean interior of the suit to pull and remove it. Problem is, there’s nothing to grasp normally. However, by adding tabs inside the collar flaps you provide a gripping point to pull and peel. This is a cheap retrofit solution that can be added to existing suits.
Second, if you watched the PPE disrobing video you’ll know that getting the pant legs off over the boots is a clumsy process. It’s just plain hard to get the cuff over the heal to begin slipping the boot up through the pant leg. What if a tab was sewn at the base of the leg? As you see above, the other foot could step on the tab thereby securing the cuff and allowing the boot to be pulled out of the suit in a much less clumsy and therefore less unsafe manner. Again, an inexpensive retrofit to existing PPE inventory.
Third, while the tab extenders made grasping the zipper easier, the use of long strapsย makes unzipping simpler as shown at the top. One strap isย attached to the PPE collar while another isย attached to the zipper tab extender. The firstย strap securesย the collarย while the secondย strap pulls to unzip the PPE. Opening the suit safely is a criticalย first step to releasingย body heat build-up and beginning the recovery period. Best of all? This is again a cheapย retrofit.
The design guidelines for this project call forย low-cost, easy to produce, quick to deploy, and impactful solutions. These uses of add-on tabs are wonderful examples of this.
Perhapsย in reading this you saw a way to improve it? Maybe you’d like to learn more about this solution? If so then come on over to the project on OpenIEDO and join in. Makers are welcome!ย #FightingEbola
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