Kiwis showing leadership in the workplace hearing loss The National Foundation for the Deaf has had successful annual online fundraising event called ‘The Silent Leadership Challenge;’ to raise awareness about noise induced hearing loss in the workplace and the consequences of losing hearing, which can be an invisible disability in the community for the 880,350 New Zealanders with hearing loss. Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is caused by single instances of extreme noise and prolonged exposure to noise can lead, respectively, to sudden or gradual sensorineural hearing loss, as a result of damage to the sensory cells. NIHL is commonly associated with occupational-related noise in industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, engineering and construction and may occur with noisy leisure pursuits like mowing the lawns or listening to loud music. The Silent Leadership Challenge required participants to undergo some challenging communication tasks in the workplace and at home, wearing bright yellow hearing protectors to simulate deafness. The challenge included communicating and participating in one to one meetings, a team meeting in the workplace and watching television, whilst wearing the provided ear protectors. Since The National Foundation for the Deaf recently opened registrations for the 2017 ‘Silent Leadership Challenge’ campaign, 118 New Zealand entities are already demonstrating their leadership in creating awareness about Noise Induced Hearing Loss by registering online to take part in the fundraising campaign. The Foundation’s ‘Silent Leadership Challenge’ campaign manager, Lisa Talbot says: “We’ve found that getting involved in the challenge can have a powerful effect on people in the workplace - it really does create understanding to think twice about being exposed to noisy sounds over 85DB and using protectors.” 10 August 2017 Moon to be next resource source The race to the moon is on again, but this time by private companies to utilise its resources. Moon Express has announced in detail its plans to begin commercially harvesting moon rocks by 2020 while also establishing a permanent lunar research outpost. Some of the spacescraft – a variety to be launched to achieve different functions - look like something out of Star Wars – similar to the R2-D2 droid. The MX-5 is described as the “lunar workhorse” and can be fitted with a variety of configurations incorporating MX-1 systems. The MX-9, lined up for the 2020 expedition, is the most comprehensive craft of the collection. Able to support lunar sample return operations this craft is being called “solar system conquering”. Resources are intended to be collected to promote science as well as for commercial avenues. N E W S Quote of the month came from Auckland University graduate school of management lecturer Ben Fath who made comment on Emirates Team New Zealand’s recent success in The New Zealand Herald: “New Zealand engineering firms are particularly good at having a fresh look at things,” Fath said. “They’ve really executed on this.” Mr Fath was commenting on the replacement of shoulder grinders with cycle posts, and that it had been “pure genius” and showed the type of innovation created in a resource constrained environment. In the media…
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