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Hard Hat for Women in Construction

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6 million hard-hats are sold each year providing protection for employees in multiple industries however the design rarely considers hair. The construction industry consists of 10.9% of female workers. 20.4 million tons of construction materials are thrown into landfill each year. I experienced first hand the uncomfortable fit of hard-hats for female hair, witnessed excessive amounts of waste in construction bins & the difficulty in accessing & disposing of sanitary products on a building site. I seek assistance from manufactures in plastic moulding to help produce a hard-hat fit for female hair, with compartments & is made out of sustainable materials.


What do you think?


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Comments
UpRising @ 2022.04.25 10:58 AM

Brilliant idea Leah. Addressing ‘in built’ gender bias in design such a critical step in creating better equality for all. 

A design that challenges conventions and eco minded is great, check out 

https://snobal.io/the-world-is-not-male-how-gender-bias-is-impacting-built-environment-design/

Let’s get you connected to the circle economy and manufacturing.


Circular Economy Pioneers Australia - Chelsea McLean @ 2022.04.29 10:58 AM
Hi Leah, congratulations on choosing a brilliant design project! 6 million plastic hard-hats a year - that is a lot of plastic! The circular economy aims to design out waste and keep valuable materials in use at their highest value and for as long as possible while regenerating natural systems. Your project is perfectly placed to help design out hard-hat waste and keep the plastic circulating so 6 million hard-hats a year don't end up in landfills! I would be so happy to help you explore options to design hard-hats that might be able to be made from recycled plastic and be repaired to extend their life. Perhaps even recycled at end of life. Check out these amazing initiatives - Precious Plastic and Fixable.co :-) I would be very happy to introduce you to these organisations and help you explore what is possible for your project. https://preciousplastic.com/ and https://fixable.co/ Please email me so I can help you! chelsea@circulareconomypioneers.com.au 

Leah @ 2022.05.03 8:09 AM

@UpRising 

Thank you for the suggestion, great article! 


Leah @ 2022.05.03 8:12 AM

Circular Economy Pioneers Australia - Chelsea McLean

Thank you Chelsea for offering to connect via email and providing the mentorship! I look forward to connecting with precious plastics. 


Dan Bradley @ 2022.05.09 8:14 AM
Really lovely idea based in a demonstrable need @Leah. I think it'd be interesting to consider a modular system that allow users to construct their ideal internal fit for the hard hard, would be happy to help you co-design with customers and test demand. dan@principals.com.au

Black Lab Design @ 2022.05.20 9:03 AM

Hi Leah,

Black Lab Design here! We are a Sydney based design and manufacturing company, with an office and factory on the Northern Beaches. We have a wealth of industrial design and engineering experience under our roof so we hope we can help you in some way on this fantastic idea!

A very original and necessary product that has been founded from your own lived experience - that means the problem exists and you're certainly a step in the right direction towards a solution. Some thoughts we have based off your brief:

1. Research your competition - Google shows plenty of websites like shewear, safetygirl… call them. Don't specifically giveaway your idea but ask them, other than having colour options, what other features do their products have that make them “female focused”? Research construction companies and understand colour requirements. Sites I have worked on require specific colours for specific job roles.

2. Don't start with the mould as this will be over $30,000, start with buying a standard Shell and trying to hack the internal webbing design to suit your needs. Websites like alibaba will have plenty of options to buy a shell cheap with no tooling then you only need to worry about manufacturing the internal components and branding.

3. There is a misconception about plastic products. All Thermoplastics are recyclable and are usually made with a % mix of recycled/virgin materials. To make it sustainable you need a collection system on your website to close the loop and ensure your customers don't just throw them in the bin when they get damaged. I very much doubt the precious plastic product will meet the safety standard required for impact.   

Get in touch for any questions you have or if you want to run any designs past us! Good luck!


Matt @ Equal Experts @ 2022.05.27 6:49 AM
I work with FRNSW and they are currently facing the dilemma of PPE that is practical for all users. It would be worth reaching out to them to see how they have addressed this challenge and what steps they put in place to validate the user comfort! Great thought, if we want to open opportunities to all people, the equipment must not limit the type of user!

Circular Economy Pioneers Australia - Chelsea McLean @ 2022.06.09 1:04 PM

Hi Leah,

I’ve had an idea that might be useful for your MDP. There are 5 circular economy business models and my favourite is called ‘servitisation’ or ‘product as a serivce’ or the ‘product service system model’. I wonder if you could recommend that instead of buying hard hats companies or people who need them could lease them so the hats can be repaired or remanufactured at the end of their use? This keeps resources circulating in the system instead of ending up in landfill or in compost (if a hard hat can break down in compost).

Here’s a link to the ACE Hub website where it explains the business models and I’m happy to help you with more ideas on this if you like. https://acehub.org.au/news/circular-business-models

Warmest, Chelsea


UpRising @ 2022.06.12 10:47 AM

Good afternoon Leah - Big Good News For you!

UpRising - People's Choice Award - Supporting young designs - Voted by the people (Anyone) 

UpRising exists to support the 4000 HSC design students across NSW, beyond gender, beyond postcode. The critical time for these students and the development of their major design projects is between Term 2 and 3. That’s why UpRising & iTE are excited to announce a targeted hit of help for you over the next few weeks.

People’s Choice - a simple and effective way of getting more communities engaged in supporting the grassroots of innovation and helping you - our creative designers with their major design projects (MDPs). 

All you need to do is to get as many of your friends and community to hit the ‘Like’ button on your post and at the end of this month (Thursday JUNE 30th 5pm) we will count the number of ‘Likes’ on each post. Top 3 ‘liked’ projects will gain critical seed funding to spend on their MDP. Highest number of likes, awarded $300, Second $200, Third $100. 


Design student’s get sharing your projects on your socials, teachers it’s not too late to get some of your MDP students signed up and collaborating with industries. Businesses wanting to build talent pathways - simple, click to join the UpRising.

N:B Likes do not represent success from a NESA perspective and those who are successful in gaining seed funding may need to acknowledge this contribution in their finance plans of their MDP.


TIme starts now - rock on designers.


UpRising @ 2022.06.28 2:21 PM

Good evening UpRising Designer

Two Days left before we close UpRising’s ‘People's Choice Seed Funding Award’. 

A few weeks ago, I thought, let’s shake things up and get you the help you need now…enter People's Choice Award..I thought we would get maybe 10 or 20 hits. 

No, you guys went ballistic! Over 5000 ‘Likes’ from all over NSW, some of you have even made the local newspaper!!! 

However, what is going to happen next is even better. 

This Thursday afternoon, 30th June, 5pm I will be announcing the 3 People’s Choice Award winners and how your seed funding $$$ will be transferred to you. I will also give you all a sneak peek at what this next level is all about, think, Australia's biggest most prestigious design event of the year..

 

Please jump into the zoom, Thursday, ask any questions about UpRising and let me know how we can make it even better for you.  

Join Zoom Meeting 5pm 30/6/22

https://zoom.us/j/4967918362?pwd=TFlPcUFHVHR6MGdMRmM1Qk9XTzhzUT09

Rock on Designers!

 

UpRising / Richard Hainsworth

Topic: UpRising People's Choice Awards + ...?

Time: Jun 30, 2022 05:00 PM

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/4967918362?pwd=TFlPcUFHVHR6MGdMRmM1Qk9XTzhzUT09



UpRising @ 2022.07.22 2:05 AM

Good morning UpRising Designers- Congratulations on all the hard work you have done with your MDP, your projects are looking amazing. Some big news to help you get the rest of the way. 

Alliance members will soon be voting on three projects that really resonate with them. There is no set criteria. I will simply ask them to consider all of the projects regardless of the number of likes the project has received and vote for a project that they consider important. 

Last month Good Design Australia joined UpRising and I am very excited to announce that this year’s top three UpRising design students will be invited to attend the Good Design Awards ceremony in September, held at the ICC. 

Alliance members will be asked to nominate their top three projects, awarding 3 points for a design project that resonates with them the most, two points for the next, 1 point for a third project. Points will be tallied and the three students with the highest points invited to attend this year’s Good Design Awards Ceremony.

I ask that before the 30th July you update your post with an image that combines a picture of your early prototype with an image of your finished projects. 

Voting opens Monday 1st August                 

Voting closes Friday 19th August  

Friday 26th August  3 Recipients announced via zoom 

Friday 2nd September Recipients RSVP closes 

Friday 16 September 2022 Good Design Awards Ceremony

On Friday 26th August 4pm I will announce the top three highest scoring Major Design student projects via Zoom with these students invited to attend this year's prestigious Good Design Australia Awards Ceremony on Friday the 16th Sept. The GDA Awards event will be an incredible way for HSC design students to connect with professionals in industry and a great opportunity to give you a seat at the table at the heart of good design here in Australia.

Wishing you all the best with the completion of your MDPs your teachers and families must be very proud of you. 


UpRising @ 2022.08.23 2:02 AM

Good morning UpRising Designer, congratulations on your great design.

All votes have been tallied and once again very very close between a range of incredible projects. The top three design projects will be announced this Friday afternoon 4pm Zoom

Time: Aug 26, 2022 04:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us05web.zoom.us/j/4967918362?pwd=TFlPcUFHVHR6MGdMRmM1Qk9XTzhzUT09

Meeting ID: 496 791 8362

Passcode: hau766

Three wonderful young designers will be off to attend this year's Good Design Awards Ceremony, kindly provided by CEO of Good Design Australia, Dr Brandon Gien. This is not only an amazing opportunity for these three students but now creates a direct pathway for the design and innovation industry to reach the grassroots of innovation, the classroom.

Would love to see you there Friday afternoon 4pm



Circular Economy Pioneers Australia - Chelsea McLean @ 2022.09.06 11:14 AM
Hi Leah, here's another good idea for the end of life of PPE/helmets I found posted here in IdeaSpies https://ideaspies.com/posts/ppe-and-the-circular-economy

UpRising @ 2022.10.30 8:37 AM

Congratulations to all who took part in this year’s UpRising. If you could spend just 2 minutes completing these three questions that would be heaps tops.  

https://forms.gle/hKybXv5KzibcMhja9

Wishing you all the best on your last exams this week, especially D&T. I am sure you will rock it.




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