Rail noise is unhealthy. Hundreds of millions of francs have already been invested in noise barriers, quieter braking systems and other measures to protect at least 80 percent of the Swiss population from emissions by 2025 - but because rail traffic will continue to increase, much remains to be done.

To further reduce the load, researchers from Empa and the School of Economics and Engineering of the Canton of Vaud, under the leadership of the EPF Lausanne, are relying on an inconspicuous component of the rail system: "rail pads" made of elastic plastic, which are inserted between the rails and the concrete sleepers. They serve to protect the highly stressed track made of compacted ballast and concrete sleepers by allowing the rails to move minimally - like a guitar string that is pressed onto the fingerboard at several points at once. But it is precisely this freedom from vibration that makes the rail "sound" more - and this noise is the decisive factor at frequent speeds of between 60 and 160 km/h.

A tailor-made composite material

In Switzerland, rail pads are usually made of the hard plastic ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). A softer material would protect the track even better - but at the price of higher noise pollution. This is a dilemma that the team commissioned by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) wants to solve with a composite material. The idea: hard shell, soft core. More precisely: a shell made of EVA and a core made of the soft material polyisobutylene (PIB), whose damping is precisely tuned to the frequency range from around 200 to 2,000 hertz, in which vibrations are particularly noise-intensive.

Uncharted territory, in other words. That's why the experts designed dozens of variants: sandwich structures made of flat layers - with and without "lids" made of EVA. Zigzag-shaped PIB fillings, surfaces with incisions and all kinds of other things. But in order to find out in the laboratory what effect each type of construction has, extensive preparatory work was necessary.
The complex interaction between rails, sleepers and ballast was simulated by a "three-sleeper unit cell": a piece of track, just under two meters long, equipped with a "shaker" that generates defined frequencies and a probe that measures the sound intensity. Although this measuring cell does not reproduce the real behavior of a railroad track, it does allow precise comparisons under different conditions.

At the same time, researchers led by Bart van Damme of Empa's "Acoustics / Noise Reduction" department developed a simulation of the system using finite element methods that matched the results of the experiments well: the basis for ultimately extrapolating the behavior to a longer rail track. With these tools of the trade, the researchers took a close look at their rail pad designs. Results: Sandwich structures, which can be easily bent thanks to indentations, were unsuitable for protecting the track bed and reducing noise at the same time, van Damme said. Zigzag-shaped infill made of PIB also did not bring any advantages. The best solution proved to be a PIB content of over 50 percent, inserted in a "shell" made of the harder EVA plastic.

Tests on real railroad lines

A simple structure, then - with advantages for tests that will take place on a rail line in Nottwil starting next March. "These rail pads are easy to manufacture. We will need almost 400 of them on the 100-meter track," says van Damme - which is why a company is on board to manufacture the already patented components.

Measurements of noise, vibration, deformation and other characteristics will show how the rail pads perform. "We hope they will make audibly less noise and at the same time protect the ballast better than the conventional hard intermediate layers," says van Damme.

In any case, optimism prevails among the research team. "The models developed in the project allow targeted optimization of the sometimes contradictory requirements," says Empa department head Jean-Marc Wunderli. And: "Since no significant additional costs are expected for the manufacture of the intermediate layers, I hope that they will be used on a large scale and thus make a significant contribution to reducing rail noise."

Source: Empa

Martin Sonderegger has been Director of the Federal Office of Armaments Armasuisse since March 1, 2015. Sonderegger has held several posts within the department since 1987 and has been deputy head of government since 2009. According to a DDPS statement, he will reach his normal retirement age at the end of August 2023 and will leave the Federal Armaments Agency.

Seamless reoccupation planned

However, the key role for security in Switzerland is to be reoccupied seamlessly. In consultation with the outgoing head of armaments, the search for a successor is already underway. The position is to be advertised in the coming days.

A search committee is to be set up for the recruitment process. The commission consists of Toni Eder, Secretary General DDPS, Monica Duca Widmer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of RUAG Holding Company, Hans Hess, former President of Swissmem, and Marc Siegenthaler, Head of DDPS Resources and Deputy Secretary General DDPS. The successor will be appointed by the Federal Council at the end of 2022.

Source: VBS

After more than two years, the carnival can finally take place again. However, the rude time can also become a nightmare for some people's hearing, because the performances of the Guggenmusik can always cause great noise pollution. If it becomes too much for the hearing, it reacts with a disturbance of the hearing function, which can become noticeable by a continuous whistling or humming in the ear. If the noise in the ear does not subside after 24 hours, Suva says a medical assessment should be made. In the long term, strong noise can not only lead to such hearing disorders, but also cause hearing loss in the long term.

According to Suva's acoustics experts, a Guggenmusik quickly reaches a sound level of 95 decibels in narrow alleys. Especially in closed pubs, values of up to 105 decibels can be recorded. For children or animals, such levels can also lead to stress reactions. For this reason, children in particular should wear hearing protection during carnival, while pets should be kept in a quiet place at this time.

In this context, Suva recalls some important tips:

• Use hearing protection (earplugs, pamir, etc.) if the noise is so loud that you cannot have a normal conversation.
• Keep your distance from loud sound sources (loudspeakers, wind instruments).
• Deliberately take breaks from noise to allow your hearing to recover.
• If you experience a feeling of pressure in the ear or dull hearing after loud noise, or even notice persistent ringing in the ears, you should urgently give your hearing a rest.
• If the symptoms have not subsided after 24 hours, it is advisable to consult an ear specialist.

Source: Suva

The hazards in steel and metal construction can be manifold: Working with heavy materials and machinery and a high degree of industrialization pose risks just as much as working with the material in terms of flying sparks or dust. Most injuries happen to the hands or eyes. Accordingly, these hazards are carefully controlled in factories and minimized by the companies. The Suva regulations, which also apply to mechanical engineering, help to identify danger points and minimize them by means of suitable measures. These include safety devices on machines, specified routes, the right work clothing, and order in the workplace and on the shop floor.

"The regular inspection of safety equipment on machines as well as the correct storage of material are indispensable in steel construction companies," says Markus Hasler, safety officer at the Wetter Group. "Occupational health and safety are our daily companions. Ongoing awareness and training - whether for the workshop or assembly - is a very high priority for us." Third-party training, e.g. for the use of forklifts or lifting platforms, is also the order of the day.

For Andreas Steffes, Managing Director of Metal Suisse, the association of the metal and steel industry, one thing is certain: "For employees of classic steel, metal or facade builders, special dangers lurk especially on construction sites. Anyone working at dizzying heights must be secured against falling." Fall protection is therefore an obligation in every case: companies, associations and legislators agree on this. Many construction-specific hazards are addressed by the new Construction Work Ordinance, which has been in force since Jan. 1, 2022. In the steel frame construction of tall, multi-story buildings, good coordination and fall protection are of particular importance, he said. Handling of materials is also important because of the dimensions and weight, Steffes said. "These building components are equipped with anchor points and are only attached by trained professionals. Collective fall protection - for example, by means of safety nets - is planned into the system right from the start. "

Safety costs money and time

The most important partner for all safety-related issues is Suva. All large Swiss steel construction companies have an internal contact person for occupational safety. According to Metal Suisse, the Suva checklists, above all the "Nine vital rules for steel construction assembly", are well used in the industry and reflect the working reality excellently. Suva is currently revising the various leaflets and checklists and adapting them to the revised Construction Work Ordinance. However, there is also a development that is becoming more and more complex. The increasing guidelines do not simplify the situation.

Diana Gutjahr, member of the National Council and co-owner of the steel construction company Ernst Fischer AG, sees this as a hindrance: "We are subject to compulsory reporting to Suva. This inhibits safety awareness and forward-looking and sustainable risk assessment. I would like to see Suva take on more of a partnership role again and work together with the industries to increase safety," says Gutjahr.

"Rather, we are moving in the direction of the U.S., where countless notices are used to try to increase safety. Too much regulation leads to less thought about consequences."

"The exchange of ideas with the insured companies is very important to Suva," says Adrian Vonlanthen, media spokesman for Suva. After all, a consensus of all parties involved is needed for the rules to make sense. That is why the new Construction Work Ordinance was revised together with the social partners, representatives of the federal government and the cantons, and Suva. The social partners had already been able to contribute during the preparation of the draft revision. According to Suva, this was what made it possible in the first place to send a broad-based draft for consultation, in which the employee and employer associations once again had the chance to actively contribute.

More joint responsibility in companies or new concepts?

After all, large construction sites already have external safety offices that monitor all work processes. The individual companies then draw up their own safety concepts and submit them. No work can be started before that. According to Gutjahr, this immense amount of work additionally reduces the low margins in steel construction. The various trades are only coordinated to a limited extent. This is particularly difficult with the large shearing loads in steel construction, because the danger area has to be cordoned off when the material is unloaded. According to Gutjahr, the right course was not set in the construction work ordinance.

According to Gutjahr, it would make sense if the building owner had to assume joint responsibility for an overarching safety concept. Accordingly, the building owner should be jointly responsible for implementation, control and maintenance, for example also in the case of obvious misconduct on the construction sites.

"Gutjahr is convinced that "new concepts are urgently needed here that make employees jointly responsible. Direct communication must take place directly on the construction site, he says. "That would be much more sustainable," says Gutjahr.

"Involving builders or planners is not possible due to the legal provisions," Suva says. However, a holistic safety concept is already being drawn up on a voluntary basis at many larger construction sites, with the companies involved consulting and coordinating with each other, according to the Suva spokesperson. Various options are currently being examined to improve the support provided to builders and planners in developing a holistic safety concept.

In the view of Metal Suisse's industry representatives, it remains important for this holistic safety concept to distribute responsibility among those parties who are actually in a position to provide and monitor responsible action. As some of the representatives say when asked, representatives of both the client and the employees must be involved in this process in order to develop a solid concept, which should ultimately lead to a noticeable improvement in safety on construction sites.

This technical article originally appeared in the printed edition SAFETY-PLUS 4-2021.

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The labor law in Switzerland dates back to 1974 and was very progressive for the time, as the legislation already regulated ergonomics in the workplace. However, according to IEA Vice President Maggie Graf, the former head of department for labor and health at Seco, Switzerland has some catching up to do.

Thus, many people limit the interpretation of the law to incorrect stresses on the skeletal muscles. Another need to catch up: professors at the tertiary level conduct research in the field of ergonomics without calling themselves ergonomists. Others, however, would not consider the discipline scientific because they do not know what it is about.

More productivity as a result of a "well-being factor

While in Europe the term "ergonomics" is predominantly used, in the USA, for historical reasons, the term "human factors" is used. What is meant, however, is often the same: "When we work with the elements of man and machine, the focus is always on ensuring that people are not harmed, but also that human performance is maintained," says Maggie Graf in a presentation at the Erfa conference of Swissergo. The task of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) is not primarily to find common denominators in the application of ergonomics expertise and to identify new potential.

The original IEA document "Core Competencies in Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE)" dates back to 2001 and was merged by several international ergonomics societies in 2012. The aim, they say, is not just to maintain people's performance, but to enable them to perform better. Cognitive ergonomics, as a subfield of the study of human work, describes how humans can best cooperate or interact with technical systems.

It is already apparent today that the more information people are exposed to, the more responsibility they have to assume. In production in particular, the use of electronic aids and automation is increasingly transforming people into control and monitoring experts. This human-machine interaction is a core area of modern ergonomics.

According to the definition of the current IEA document, the term "HFE" stands for a scientific discipline that seeks to understand interactions with human and "other elements of a system". HFE experts, according to the IEA, apply "theories, principles, data, and methods" to balance human well-being with system performance given human needs and capabilities.

The IEA documents also make it possible to compile curricula for training programs. An ergonomist (or HFE specialist) should understand the influence of the physical, cognitive and organizational aspects of work in terms of human well-being and productivity.

The "idea," however, says Maggie Graf, is not to become "perfect" in all the necessary disciplines. Most ergo experts are specialized in their field, she says, but it is always important to keep an overview of the whole work environment in order to identify and evaluate problems from different areas.

If, for example, only the cognitive ergonomics or the physical problems in an organization were considered without looking at the corporate structures, a functioning system would be doomed to failure. The new IEA guidelines also address an impetus for ergonomists to understand more about management practice in order to be able to speak to all stakeholders at different levels of the business.

One of these competencies involves measuring and analyzing actions within the framework of a holistic system using the management cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act) to influence people's "Well-Being" factor.

Maggie Graf advises ergonomists to become members of many IEA technical committees. The interest groups are very diverse and useful for getting a lot of input during the year through the various publications and webinars.

IEA Guidelines: https://bit.ly/39f0HzJ
IEA Technical Committees:
iea.cc/leadership/technical-committees.

As part of a pilot project, the city of Basel plans to explore various technologies over the next few years to simplify data collection in public spaces. Among other things, the aim of the project is to use sensors to collect data on the utilization of parking spaces in order to drive forward parking space management.

Alternative charging of electric cars

Various measuring systems are used to transmit factors such as air quality, water quality and traffic frequencies to the responsible administrative bodies. The "smart street" comprises a section of road on Gundeldingerstrasse at the level of Margarethenpark. According to the city of Basel, sensors will be installed there at five locations. The test phase already began in February and will now last about a year.

The talk is of "new, inexpensive sensors" that measure both air quality and vehicle noise over a longer period of time. However, the measuring systems also require electricity. For example, tests are being conducted to determine whether power distribution boxes can also be used as e-car charging stations, or to what extent street lighting could be used for power requirements.

As far as data collection is concerned, the city of Basel communicates that the technologies are hardly recognizable in public spaces and the population would also not see which data is collected by which location for which purpose. However, in order to increase transparency, sensors are to be identified with pictograms or QR codes. The collected data would be freely accessible and usable for the public and would be published on the data portal Basel-Stadt on the website https://data.bs.ch published.

Source: Canton Basel-Stadt

The Armed Forces regularly participate in international exercises as part of Switzerland's military training cooperation. A total of 13 such training activities are planned for 2022, nine of which will take place abroad and probably four in Switzerland.

The Federal Council has also authorized the Defense Group to independently conclude any bilateral or multilateral implementation agreements for participation in the individual exercises.

Promoting the exchange of knowledge and experience

Cooperation, particularly in the areas of special forces, pilot recovery, and infantry and marksmanship, he said, promotes the exchange of knowledge and experience and gives the Army comparative opportunities to examine its own capabilities and processes.

In addition, the Swiss Air Force would be able to carry out flight exercises that would not be possible in Switzerland due to environmental restrictions, among other things. In return, the Swiss Armed Forces could provide other countries with their own training infrastructures and specific expertise (e.g. helicopter simulator for "Super Puma" in Emmen or training in high mountains).

Source: the Federal Council

Zurich's second security event, Smidex 2022, will take place on November 15 and 16, 2022. As Delta Blue AG, the format's organizer, writes in a statement, the first edition of Smidex Suisse in 2021 can be considered a success.

As part of an "expo" (Expo + Symposium), the topics of physical security systems, IT infrastructure and cyber security will be combined again this year in Hall 550 in Zurich-Oerlikon. According to the organizers, managing information security is only successful if responsible persons inform themselves and exchange information.

Lectures and live program

The event format sees itself as a content platform. Under the promise "Content is King", there will be three conference tracks with qualified content on best practices, trends and studies. Once again, a panel of experts will decide on the Advisory Board decide

In addition to the lectures, companies will present their solutions on site with their own presenter stand. Visitors are also invited to use the "Exposyum" for other purposes. There are also enough technically well-equipped rooms available, for example, so that a dealer conference or a customer event can be held.

The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has signed a contract for access to 2,000 additional packs of the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab, developed by Glaxosmithkline in partnership with Vir Biotechnology. The antibody was discovered by Ticino-based Humabs Biomed in Bellinzona. The contract amount is confidential, he said.

This is already the third contract with Glaxosmithkline to reserve its Covid-19 drug following two orders in 2021 for 3000 and 2000 packs, respectively.

Sotrovimab was granted a temporary marketing authorization by Swissmedic on Jan. 14, 2022, under the name "Xevudy." Clinical trials showed that Xevudy can protect infected at-risk individuals from severe covid disease progression. The wolle will cover the costs of the treatments in the outpatient setting as long as they are not yet reimbursed by mandatory health insurance.

Source: BAG

So-called network-attached storage devices are usually targeted by attackers for two reasons. Security updates are usually optional for users, and users or companies often unknowingly share their inadequately protected NAS devices for access to the Internet, making it easier for cyber crooks to track down the NAS devices.

According to a Study by Trend Micro NAS devices have recently been particularly affected by well-known ransomware families such as REvil, Qlocker or various botnets are affected. Targeted attacks (for example, by the QSnatch malware) are a particular threat. Best practices primarily include protection against cyberattacks. To this end, the study makes the following recommendations:

• Never connect NAS devices directly to the Internet
• Regularly change the access and security data of all connected devices. Never use the preset default passwords of the devices
• Activation of two-factor authentication (2FA), if available
• Uninstall unused services, for example, unneeded software and applications
• Regularly review NAS vendors' online security guides to provide additional protection from attackers

Editor's note: As far as the first point is concerned, the user or the company should definitely not simply release services to the outside world, but rely on additional protection factors such as a VPN.

Source: Trend Micro

Die Gebärdensprache ist eine eigenständige und gegenüber Lautsprache eigenständige Sprache. Rund 10’000 gehörlose Menschen in der Schweiz benutzen eine der drei nationalen Gebärdensprache als Erstsprache, darunter die Langue de signes signes française und die Lingua dei segni italiana.

An einem heutigen Treffen, das vom Eidgenössischen Büro für die Gleichstellung von Menschen mit Behinderungen (EBGB) organisiert wird, soll in im Rahmen eines ersten Dialogs zur Gebärdensprache ausgelotet werden, wie die Teilhabe von gehörlosen Menschen in der Schweiz weiter verbessert werden kann.

Ziel des Austausches sei es, zunächst eine Auslegeordnung der Anliegen der Gehörlosengemeinschaft vorzunehmen und gemeinsam zu diskutieren, in welchem Rahmen diese Anliegen aufgenommen und weiterbearbeitet werden könnten. In einer zweiten Phase gehe es darum, mögliche Handlungsoptionen auf der Fachebene zu vertiefen.

Arbeit in sechs Themenfeldern

Das EBGB hat im Vorfeld gemeinsam mit dem Schweizerischen Gehörlosenbund (SGB-FSS) sechs Themenfeldern identifiziert, die im Dialog prioritär behandelt werden sollen:

• Zugang zu öffentlichen Informationen des Bundes
• Bilinguale Bildung (Unterricht in Gebärden- und Lautsprache)
• Zugang zu Dolmetschdiensten
• Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung
• Sprache und Kultur
• Statistische Grundlagen zu gehörlosen Menschen in der Schweiz

Source: General Secretariat FDHA

In light of many waves of threats that continue to exploit entry points in Microsoft Office documents, Microsoft now plans to disable VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) macros by default in the future.

Office users and administrators will then no longer run the risk of a Trojan sneaking in with Office files from the Internet. The execution of macros via a button can lead to data loss or remote access if a Trojan is introduced.

To prevent users from clicking the button to run macros by default in the future, a banner will pop up pointing to the security risks and a Microsoft support page.

According to "The Verge" Microsoft plans to implement the changes starting in April. From then on, the warning method will be tested in current-channel previews before being rolled out to regular Office 365 users. Affected by the change to block VBA macros from the web is Access, Excel, Power Point, Visio and Word on the Windows operating system.

Source: Heise.de