Hello Aejaz,
I forwarded your email to the Director of the Rehabilitation
Engineering Centre that I work at, and here is his response. It's from
an "Australian" point of view, but it may still be of interest to you.
Cheers,
Dave ;-)
David Hobbs
Rehabilitation Engineer
Regency Park Rehabilitation Engineering
PO Box 2438, Regency Park, SA, Australia, 5942
Ph: + 61 - 8 - 8243 8338
Fax: + 61 - 8 - 8243 8208
Web: http://regencyrehab.cca.org.au/
Email: [log in to unmask]
"Reality can be beaten with enough imagination."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi David,
The issue of safe travel in motor vehicles is one where we have put in
a fair amount of work over the years. The relevant Australian Standards
are AS 2942, "Wheelchair occupant restraint assemblies for motor
vehicles", which we wrote, and AS 4370, "Restraint of children with
disabilities in motor vehicles", written by a Victorian group.
In South Australia, the Education Dept. accepts responsibility for
getting children with a disability to school, and they contract the
carriers. Mark Hartridge (Testing Laboratory Manager) and I have been
through the Standards requirements with the relevant DETE staff, so they
are aware of the requirements.
That only leaves the question: does DETE audit whether or not the
carriers comply with the Standards? I don't know the answer to that.
Cheers,
Barry
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Barry Seeger, PhD
Director, Regency Park Rehabilitation Engineering
PO Box 2438, Regency Park, SA 5942 Australia
Ph: +(618) 8243 8387 Fx: +(618) 8243 8208
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://regencyrehab.cca.org.au/
>>> [log in to unmask] Wednesday, 22 May 2002 >>>
Dear all,
Can anyone recommend any good safety design guidelines for wheelchair
attachments (e.g. communication aids etc) during transport? As a
general rule, we encourage things to be taken off and secured/stored
safely before transportation. However there may be situations where the
attachments may be required to be used during transport.
I am also curious to know how many health, local or educational
authorities out there actually have a written policy on this issue?
Regards,
Aejaz Zahid
Clinical Scientist
BDGH NHS Trust
|