INDN 212: Project 2 description and the problem

This is a big project: group work, should be interesting. The idea is that we need to find a safety problem, whether it be around the house, in an everyday object or in any imaginable everyday situation and design a solution for it "Design for the real world".

This has led me to discussions with a young gentleman named Patrick

Patrick is a plumber.

He is also a very dear friend of mine, and being a very good friend of mine I would like it if I was able to keep him safe in his work environment. One of the biggest issues that has become apparent in his area of work is the large amount of safety equipment that they have wear on and around construction sites and under houses (two places that plumbers tend to spent a large amount of time). While rules have been put in place in regards to the necessity of certain items of safety gear such as hard hats, goggles and ear muffs by OSH there has been a severe oversight in regards to one very important factor involving all of these items of safety gear: real estate.

There are so many items of headgear to wear on the job as a tradesman that by the time you are wearing a hard hat, a mask, a pair of gaggles or glasses AND a pair of ear-muffs it can be quite uncomfortable, especially around the ears.

This results in people not wearing all of their safety gear, forgoing a pair of earmuffs or their goggles in order to be more comfortable. This often causes hearing or sight problems further down the line.