HealthSafety Report
03/20/2013
Andrea Lazarte
Notes:
Today we will again do exercises for about an hour after sending the
reports. Yesterday the HSO was
having back pain so she couldn’t join her crewmember in the work out.
She took a Pain Reliever pain
for that. She took another pill this afternoon because the pain hadn’t
decreased.
After dinner we will have our regular doses of vitamin C to prevent
from getting colds especially in
this changing weather. We may have rain today according to the weather news.
Today´s EVA was about trying a parallel configuration of the stretcher
for transporting an injured
crewmember and a four wheel configuration for a terrain with a 30
degrees slope using an ATV. I –
the simulated injured crewmember – provided a unique insight on the
various configurations. I once
again noted that my comfort level was dependent on the different
terrain (i.e. rough, medium and
smooth) and the limitations of the spacesuit´s components, especially
the helmet.
For the two wheel parallel configuration in rough terrain I
experienced discomfort on the back of my
head because of the helmet pressing against my head. I also felt I was
going to one side and the
other so it was uncomfortable for me and my crewmembers had to
struggle to balance the stretcher
with me in it. After this test the wheels started to move in opposite
directions so we had to
reconfigure them. After an hour we made another trial. This time the
transportation improved a lot.
The discomfort was less compared to the one before.
For the medium terrain the discomfort was less than in the rough
terrain. Using a clothing hat on my
head improved the comfort level during transportation.
For the flat/smooth terrain I didn’t feel any kind of discomfort. The
loose stretcher connections
were replaced so I didn’t feel any discomfort.
For the four wheel configuration, in the 30 degrees slope terrain I
experienced some instability
because of the slope itself. The ride was ok except for the parts I
felt I was going down. I
recommend putting a stopper in the stretcher for preventing the
injured crewmember from falling
down. I also think that the ATV driver should move very slowly to
prevent that bumps that can hurt
the injured person.
After the slope terrain simulation we had the ATV pull the four-wheel
configuration stretcher back
to the habitat. In this case the transportation of the injured
crewmember was easy but a little
uncomfortable because of the rocks we passed in the terrain. I once
again recommend that the ATV
driver go very slow to prevent the stretcher from getting too close to
the ATV’s wheels.
_____________________
Andrea Lazarte Aguirre
Health and Safety Officer