Frauke Hoss is a civil engineer currently working in DG GROW's Machinery & Equipment. During the pandemic, she realised that facial masks were not fit for most women. Since the regulation on personal protective equipment is in the Machinery & Equipment unit portfolio, she decided to take action.

A study was thus launched to screen almost 4,000 European harmonised standards supporting the 22 pieces of EU legislation in the machinery and equipment unit remit (machinery, lifts, low voltage, cableways, pressure equipment, radio equipment, etc). By year end, the study will identify which of those 4,000 standards have anthropometric provisions that are insufficiently inclusive and gender-responsive. This will allow the Commission to request the European Standardization Organizations to make all those standards inclusive.

A feasibility study for an EU-wide measurement campaign to collect the representative anthropometric data needed to update the standards will also be launched.

In parallel, Frauke also represents the Commission in UN-level work on ‘equitable occupant protection’. This is important as the UN vehicle safety requirements are recognized in the EU and worldwide. A Swedish proposal to create a working group on equitable occupant protection had been rejected the year before.

After Frauke proposed to concentrate on virtual ‘crash tests’ using computer simulation rather than continuing to try changing the rules for conventional crash testing with dummies, the proposal succeeded. A dedicated ‘informal working group’ was created and should eventually lead to more inclusive UN crash test requirements.