IMechE launches engineering manual for dealing with COVID-19

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers launches a manual of best mechanical engineering practice and approaches for dealing with COVID-19, focusing on how to ensure people stay safe during the pandemic.

The Manual is the work of the Institution’s COVID-19 Task Force which started work earlier this year when the crisis first struck.

Members of the Institution have been involved in efforts worldwide to defeat the virus, from helping to set up hospitals in the UK and Hong Kong to building ventilators in India. They have also contributed to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) which gives scientific and technical advice to the UK Government.

“Members of the Institution are making a major contribution to finding mechanical engineering approaches and solutions to the problems caused by COVID-19,” said Professor Joe McGeough, a Past President of the Institution who leads the Task Force.

“This Manual brings together best practice across many areas from around the globe. It highlights how engineers have worked to ensure that science is leading to practical solutions and also it considers how people in different parts of the world have reacted to the pandemic and what impact this has had.”

The Manual highlights the work that is being undertaken in a range of areas from virus transmission to building ventilation and air cleaning, to give a better understanding of what people and organisations can do to stay safe.

It also looks at how biomedical engineering is contributing to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the Institution have been involved in developing new breathing devices to help patients, in one case building on existing patents to build a new device in less than two weeks.

The Manual is online on the Institution’s website and will be continuously updated to reflect developments in technology and the latest results from relevant trials.

Notes to Editors

• Contact the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Press Office on 07713565683 or email media@imeche.org if you would like more information.
• The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was established in 1847 and has some of the world’s greatest engineers in its history books. It is one of the fastest growing professional engineering institutions. Headquartered in London, we have operations around the world and over 120,000 members in more than 140 countries working at the heart of the most important and dynamic industries such as the automotive, rail, aerospace, medical, power and construction industries.