The ANSI Federation and standardization community are stepping up with guidance, resources, and initiatives to support public health, safety, and infrastructure during the COVID-19 outbreak. ANSI is monitoring, sharing, and promoting appropriate news to highlight these efforts. Suggestions for news items may be submitted to [email protected]. All submissions are published at ANSI's discretion.
Auto Glass Safety Council Releases Educational Presentations for COVID Planning
The Auto Glass Safety Council has released resources to assist in answering the multitude of questions COVID-19 has placed on the transportation industry.
Pre-recorded webinars, hosted by Scopelitis Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary, address COVID-19 issues, including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and other breaking developments, as well as a discussion on insurance-related questions brought about by the pandemic.
Access the webinar: "COVID & the Transportation Industry" (recorded March 20), or access the presentation slides.
Access the webinar: "COVID & the Transportation Industry: More Questions Answered" (recorded April 4) or access the presentation slides.
NASA Develops COVID-19 Prototype Ventilator
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have developed a new high-pressure ventilator, named VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), to treat patients infected with the coronavirus. The machine passed a critical test on April 21 at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai located in New York.
"We were very pleased with the results of the testing we performed in our high-fidelity human simulation lab," said Dr. Matthew Levin, director of innovation for the Human Simulation Lab and associate professor of anesthesiology, preoperative and pain medicine, and genetics and genomics sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine. "The NASA prototype performed as expected under a wide variety of simulated patient conditions. The team feels confident that the VITAL ventilator will be able to safely ventilate patients suffering from COVID-19 both here in the United States and throughout the world."
NASA reports that it is seeking expedited FDA approval for the device via an emergency use authorization, a fast-track approval process developed for crises that takes just days rather than years. Additionally, the Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA, will offer a free license for VITAL and currently is reaching out to the commercial medical industry to find manufacturers for the device.
Read more about the ventilators on NASA's website and find out more about other NASA efforts to combat COVID-19, including its work on a surface decontamination system in an April 23 NASA press release.
NENA Issues on Demand Webinar for Emergency Response Professionals
NENA: The 9-1-1 Association, has published 9-1-1 & COVID-19: A Report on PSAPs During the Pandemic to support emergency response professionals. The association has also launched listings with COVID-19 resources for NENA members, chapters, and the greater 9-1-1 community, and will be updated as new materials become available.
Access NENA's on-demand Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic From the 9-1-1 Centerwebinar and/or slides, and visit the NENA website for additional resources.
SBCA Offers COVID-19 Resources, Launches Survey for Component Manufacturing Industry
The Structural Building Components Association (SBCA) has gathered numerous resources and materials for employers regarding COVID-19 and arranged them on a webpage dedicated to COVID coverage, highlighting four general categories: business operations, webinars, additional resources (not created by SBCA) and additional articles. Access the resources on SBCA's website.
Additionally, SBCA's publication, SBC Magazine, has launched a survey to track the direct effect that COVID-19 is having on the component manufacturing (CM) industry, and to understand the impact of the virus on CMs, and assess how industry is responding to the spread of the virus. Access Component Manufacturers Survey: COVID-19 Impacts to Our Industry.
SHRM Releases Updated Online Resources
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has released the latest news and updates, as well as critical member-only resources. In addition, key information is available to help guide professionals through the pandemic.
Review coverage most read by SHRM members, and access a complete list of all information published by SHRM COVID-19 on SHRM's resource page, which also features remote work guidance and best practices on Coronavirus and COVID-19.
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See related headlines on AAMI's Free eLearning Course for Displaced Students of BMET Programs and ASSP's Free Access to Recorded Education Sessions for a Limited Time, in ANSI's recent article, Did You Know?
See more ANSI member efforts in the newly launched ANSI COVID-19 Resource Webpage Highlighting Standardization Community Response Efforts.