The 1st European Conference on Healthcare Engineering was held in Baden-Baden, Germany, last September – the event was staged by the European Competence Center of Healthcare Engineering (ECCHE), an organisation formed by a group of associations most of which are members of the International Federation of Hospital Engineering (IFHE).
Published in this issue of Health Estate Journal are two articles based on papers presented at the conference. In one, ideas for optimising the management of waste and hazardous materials in the medical field are provided by Ing. Monika Schaffer MSc who has responsibility for waste management at the Vienna General Hospital in Austria. In the other article, formed from a paper by Prof David Charters, director of fire engineering, BRE Fire and Security, UK, recent developments in UK fire prevention legislation for hospitals are considered.
Health Estate Journal is grateful to the ECCHE and IFHE for their help in providing the articles for publication.
