Measurement and testing for safety, health and sustainable development

Transport safety

Minimum safety distance in tunnels:

definition of instrument testing procedures and the reference tools required to implement them.

[Gérard Galban]

Drink-driving tests:

development of a new breath test calibration bench.

[Hubert Berry]

Drug screening tests:

development of reference tools to validate drug tests.

[Béatrice Lalère]

Toxic gases:

development of methods for analysing toxic gases produced in fires.

[Alain Sainrat]

Dangerous goods:

studies simulating distribution stresses in transport of dangerous goods.

[Bernard Picque]

Delicate products:

(déchets d’activités de soins, produits biologiques, alimentaires, médicaments) : études des emballages de transport de produits sensibles devant être conservés en ambiance thermique (emballages isothermes notamment).

[Catherine Loriot]

Sustainable development

Air quality:

development of measurement references and methods, particularly for VOCs, PAHs and fine dust particles. This work is carried out by the Central Air Quality Monitoring Laboratory (LCSQA) for the French Ministry of the Environment. LCSQA was set up by LNE with the Ecole des Mines de Douai engineering school and the National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS).

[Sophie Vaslin-Reimann]

Ground and surface water quality:

development of traceability chains and reference materials for measuring pH and electrical conductivity, detecting pollutants (heavy metals, pesticides) and ensuring pipes comply with health regulations.

[Paola Fisicaro]

Marine pollution:

design and development of remote detection instrumentation for tracking oil pollution. Ongoing projects aim to improve response time when pollution occurs, through automatic integration of geographic data and information relayed by remote detection instruments, real-time transmission of data recorded on land and close to pollution areas, and 24-hour detection capability.

[Sylvain Pierrard]

Greenhouse gases:

development of a method of detecting greenhouse gas leakage from air conditioners, particularly in motor vehicles, in cooperation with the Ecole des Mines de Paris engineering school.

[Pierre OTAL]

Medical / Health

Traceability of measurements in the medical sector:

The areas covered by research in this field include analysis of medicines, in vitro diagnostics, and analyses performed by biomedical laboratories. LNE is contributing to work by the Joint Committee on Traceability in Laboratory Medicine (JCTLM) set up under the aegis of the International Weights and Measures Office BIPM.

[Marc Priel]

Quality of medical examinations:

improved control of equipment used in audiometry, spirometry, blood pressure monitoring, intraocular pressure measurement, etc.

[Marc Priel]

Hospital environments:

Control of medical air and sterilization processes, qualification and control of microbiological safety cabinets.

[Patrice Lair]

Food safety

Active and "smart" food packaging,

studies to assess the potentialities of active antimicrobial packaging for preserving fresh foods; tests of new cleaning and disinfection processes on packaging material, in isolation or in contact with food.

[Catherine Loriot]

Construction materials and products

Insulating materials:

characterization of insulating materials (dynamic stiffness, thermal and acoustic characteristics) in the context of a forthcoming European Directive, in cooperation with the French building industry's scientific and technical centre CSTB.

[Gianni Venuti]

Reaction to fire of construction materials

development and validation at European level of a "Medium" test bench for preliminary grading of materials according to the Euroclass system specified in the Directive on construction products.

[Alain Sainrat]