Over the last few weeks, we have seen an amazing effort not only from the engineering community, but from people in all walks of life to help support with the production of personal protections equipment (PPE) for our frontline staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The University\u2019s Kent and Medway Engineering, Design, Growth and Enterprise (EDGE) Hub <\/a>team of engineers and scientists are also busy in helping the community of 3D printers, 3DCrowdUK<\/a>, to produce face visors and masks safely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Covid-19 is unlike any previous virus and when producing PPE at home, or in industry,\u00a0the same\u00a0principles\u00a0must be applied\u00a0as if you were manufacturing food to be sold to the public.\u00a0Therefore, Dr Anne Nortcliffe at the EDGE Hub has been\u00a0analysing the scientific research into Covid-19 to\u00a0help\u00a0inform health and safety\u00a0manufacturing of face\u00a0visors\u00a0during this crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Research currently shows that the virus is still evident after four hours on copper and after 72 hours on plastic and stainless-steel surfaces. It is not as stable on cardboard, with no viable SARS-COV-2 measured after 24 hours, and SARS-COV-1 was not viable after 8 hours, which means for manufacturing purposes it is best to use cardboard packaging instead of plastic. Any manufactured goods of plastic or stainless steel within cardboard packaging should be quarantined for 72 hours before use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Any workspace, keyboards, computer screens, door handles in the working environment needs to be regularly\u00a0disinfected and\u00a0cleaned using\u00a062-71% alcohol sanitizer,\u202fwear clean\u00a0clothes\u00a0washed in a machine at 60o<\/sup>C, and of course, social distancing should be practiced at all times in a work place due to the aerosol dispersion of the virus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, when manufacturing and assembling facial visors, the following guidance should be adhered: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr<\/em><\/strong> Anne Nortcliffe,<\/em><\/strong> is the<\/em><\/strong> Head of School of Engineering, Technology and Design<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>and has experience in<\/em><\/strong> engineering for the food and chemical sector<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n