ABSTRACT
During a global pandemic, mitigating the impact of the disease and coordinating efforts to manage not only the medical but also the logistical and administrative aspects of such an all-encompassing phenomenon are of paramount importance. An extremely important but less publicised issue in this context is laboratory management and safety in analytical laboratories. In times of high capacity utilisation, as is the case during a pandemic or endemic outbreak of disease, other routine processes have to be abbreviated or are cancelled altogether due to lack of planning owing to the rapid emergence of the outbreak. In order to achieve high level of cleanliness in laboratories of all shapes and sizes and with different requirements, a universal solution seems unimaginable. Our experiments show a promising, automated approach of disinfection of various spaces. Within a short timeframe of 1 h – 3 h it is possible to disinfect any desired room to achieve a laboratory grade hygiene status. This was proven by employing biological indicators validated for this procedure. The tested technology reduced the indicator germs by a concentration of the mathematical log 6 reduction. Achieving this high level of cleanliness is possible by assigning a single person to the task for the set-up at the scene. Steering and monitoring of the process can be done remotely. While the machine used in our experiments is not a completely new concept, our experiments in a real-life setting such as laboratories and clinics alike, show that the applied hydrogen peroxide vapour distributed by a specialized fogger, disinfects even hard to reach spots within closed-off spaces. This program can be performed while automated (PCR) machines are running and highly trained personnel can apply their expertise elsewhere. Moreover, while the program is running real-time data is available and the process can be remotely monitored and steered digitally. It is of major concern to ensure maintainability of infrastructure e.g. COVID labs, ambulances, laboratories or veterinary practitioners to ensure treatment of directly and indirectly related health issues within a crisis. We concentrated on evaluating the usability of the disinfection technology presented in real-life settings. © 2022 IDIMT. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 represents one of the greatest global challenges of the last decades in terms of medical, coordination and management aspects, but also on the societal and economic level. The borderline experience of dealing with such a complex, global event has shown that Austria - as the majority of countries and organizations - was inadequately prepared for a crisis of this kind in some areas. The call for a comprehensive, applicable and interoperable solution portfolio including evidence-based analysis of current processes/structures, tools and infrastructures as well as lessons learned from the current pandemic response, is evident. The “ROADS to Health” reflect this approach7, a holistic solution set up aiming at developing a technologically supported, clearly structured pandemic management for the future. Experiences from the current management will be processed and included in risk analyses to describe further, possible future pandemic scenarios in order to derive practical resilience strategies and develop connectable tool modules and a roadmap. "Strengthening strengths, bridging weaknesses" will be the overarching goal, taking into account specific, particularly relevant questions and tasks of the stakeholders as well as of other interested parties involved in management with regard to the actual prevention potential of current, isolated measures. Resilience is thus to be promoted in selected, particularly relevant areas and tools for reducing vulnerability are to be made available to decision-makers through a holistic approach. This keynote paper will draft the frame of this model by presenting the underlying background and basis of the ROADS to Health-solution set and open the floor for a wider range of perspectives of optimization in pandemic and crisis management. © 2021 IDIMT 2021 - Pandemics: Impacts, Strategies and Responses, 29th Interdisciplinary Information Management Talks All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The objective of the KIRAS security research project NutriSafe is to develop and evaluate Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for enhancing the resilience of value chains in the Food Industry. Different use cases about the application of DLT was dealt with comprehensively. The focus for Austria was identified mainly in the fields of food security: logistic challenges, disruption of transfer, processing or packaging, pandemic animal diseases or crop failure due to climatic change effects. For the German partners, food safety focused on contamination of foodstuff with germs, diseases or foreign particles that require a retrieval action. In this way, new insights and training tools are created in cooperation with international practice partners to improve food security in the course of the upcoming digitalization and to secure the supply in case of emergency. This paper will give an overview14 of the dynamic work in progress of the project and its challenges by summarizing the findings nearly. Examples will show lessons learned, good practice, but also challenges and open questions or gaps in the wake of complex crisis scenarios and events as the still ongoing COVID pandemic, natural or man-made incidents, or criminal acts represent. © 2021 IDIMT 2021 - Pandemics: Impacts, Strategies and Responses, 29th Interdisciplinary Information Management Talks All rights reserved.