Review of Australian standards: AS/NZS 3856 part 1 and 2 : Hoists and ramps for people with disabilities—Vehicle-mounted :   A working group (ME-067-04)  was formed  and they completed the groundwork for the potential project proposal regarding AS/NZS 3856.1 and AS/NZS 3856.2. This working group made a lot of technical and general comments regarding the standard which the ME-067 committee addressed. The committee reviewed the documents as a whole and suggested a few more changes. The current draft will be reviewed again and a project proposal will be put forward in Aug, 2018.

Terms of Reference (ToR) and scope of ME-067 :  The committee reviewed the inclusions and exclusions and finalised the document . The document will now be sent to Australian Production Management Group (PMG). The committee has also agreed that a liaison would be established between ME-067 and ME-064 with Bruce Becker as the point of contact.

Review of AS/NZS 3973:2009 Shower/toilet chairs (mobile and static) : The committee will be preparing ground work for this project by looking at the international Personal Hygiene Standard ISO 17966:2016 and comparing this standard with the AS/NZS 3973: 2009.  Currently the committee doesn’t have anyone with the capacity to undertake this work. The committee would be reaching out to their respective networks to see anyone with an interest in shower and toilet chairs and related daily living. The aim of this project is to adopt the international standard with modifications to suit Australian conditions.  Please contact Karthik.pasumarthy@health.wa.gov.au if you are interested in contributing.

AS/NZS 3695 Wheelchairs Part 2: Requirements and test methods for electrically powered wheelchairs (including mobility scooters): This document is currently with the Standards Australia publishing services team. The committee will be addressing the editorial comments received and also develop a preface after which it will be released for public comments for 9 weeks and balloting for two weeks.

International Participation of the ME-067 committee members: The committee endorsed the following members to participate and attend ISO meetings

• Robert Bingham and Natasha Layton will be attending the ISO TC/173 plenary meeting in Nairobi (May, 2018).
• Emily Steel will be attending  the ISO TC/173/ WG 10 Assistive products for cognitive disabilities meeting in Stockholm (April, 2018)
• Lloyd Walker will be participating remotely on  the ISO TC/173/ WG 1 Assistive products for walking ,during the Nairobi meetings in May 2018

AS TS 3695.3 Wheelchair requirements for designation of powered wheelchairs for public transport and /or road related are use (including mobility scooters): Changes to a few figures/diagrams were made and also few observations were discussed and flagged. Once these matters are addressed the document will be sent for publication.