The risks in risk management

Professor Karen Starr, Foundation Chair, School Development and Leadership at Deakin University, recently spoke with Principals about risk management in schools. She argues for more open dialogue in schools to expose the full range of risks they face.

Elite athletes as charitable ambassadors: risks associated with indiscretions

Elite athletes can reach a level of notoriety where media and fans are interested in various aspects of their lives beyond that of their on-field success or failure. By receiving this level of attention, these sporting celebrities attract sponsorships from commercial, fee-paying corporations. With considered alignment, manufacturers can enhance the visibility of their product with target audiences that consume every aspect of the lives of celebrity endorsers. While this form of commodification has been explored from the perspective of the private sector, there is limited research that reflects on the ambassador relationship between sport celebrities and charitable organisations.While a charity ambassador role omits financial support, a win-win outcome can be achieved. Enhanced visibility can benefit both parties: the sports celebrity adds another dimension to their personal brand portfolio, and the charitable organisation broadens awareness of their social issue. Retired athletes continue to harbour desirable brand equity; they have ongoing potential to reach to multiple stakeholders and act as important catalysts for social change.Whilst heightened visibility of an issue is desired, the immense stakeholder interest in the life of a successful athlete has a downside if the celebrity transgresses. Minor transgressions may pass with little impact, yet what constitutes a minor transgression for one set of stakeholders may result in reputational damage for both athlete and brand. Adopting a case study approach, this chapter investigates the construction of the sports celebrity persona at various stages of their career and the response by all actors to transgressions.Findings reveal that media framing of successful sports personalities can exacerbate future failings and heighten the impact on stakeholders, thus lessening their viability and longevity as positive social catalysts. Replicating actions adopted by the private sector, charitable​ organisations may respond to scandals by immediately severing the relationship, or at the other extreme, provide visible support as the celebrity seeks to repair and restore their image. The cases lead to a cohesive set of risk assessment considerations.

Intrinsic versus extrinsic cancer risks: the debate continues

Deciphering the relative contribution of intrinsic (e.g., genetic) and extrinsic (e.g., life style, environmental) risk factors in cancer development is crucial for strategizing cancer prevention. The recent publication by Wu and colleagues in Nature appears as an important contribution to the debate previously initiated by Tomasetti and Vogelstein in Science, who proposed that two-thirds of cancers can be attributed to random mutations and hence 'bad luck'. By contrast, Wu and colleagues, using four lines of evidence, suggest that cancer risk is dominated by extrinsic factors, and intrinsic risk factors only contribute marginally. The debate remains open, and an approach focusing on the evolutionary ecology of organs could provide crucial insights.

Musculoskeletal asymmetry in football athletes: A product of limb function over time.

PURPOSE: Asymmetrical loading patterns are commonplace in football sports. Our aim was to examine the influence of training age and limb function on lower-body musculoskeletal morphology. METHODS: Fifty-five elite football athletes were stratified into less experienced (≤3 yr; n = 27) and more experienced (>3 yr; n = 28) groups by training age. All athletes underwent whole-body dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans and lower-body peripheral quantitative computed tomography tibial scans on the kicking and support limbs. RESULTS: Significant interactions between training age and limb function were evident across all skeletal parameters (F16, 91 = 0.182, P = 0.031, Wilks Λ = 0.969). Asymmetries between limbs were significantly larger in the more experienced players than the less experienced players for tibial mass (P ≤ 0.044, d ≥ 0.50), total cross-sectional area (P ≤ 0.039, d ≥ 0.53), and stress-strain indices (P ≤ 0.050, d ≥ 0.42). No significant asymmetry was evident for total volumetric density. More experienced players also exhibited greater lower-body tibial mass (P ≤ 0.001, d ≥ 1.22), volumetric density (P ≤ 0.009, d ≥ 0.79), cross-sectional area (P ≤ 0.387, d ≥ 0.21), stress-strain indices (P ≤ 0.012, d ≥ 0.69), fracture loads (P ≤ 0.018, d ≥ 0.57), and muscle mass and cross-sectional area (P ≤ 0.016, d ≥ 0.68) than less experienced players. CONCLUSIONS: Asymmetries were evident in athletes as a product of limb function over time. Chronic exposure to routine high-impact gravitational loads afforded to the support limb preferentially improved bone mass and structure (cross-sectional area and cortex thickness) as potent contributors to bone strength relative to the high-magnitude muscular loads predominantly afforded to the kicking limb.

Impact of an 8-month trial using height-adjustable desks on children's classroom sitting patterns and markers of cardio-metabolic and musculoskeletal health

During school hours, children can sit for prolonged and unbroken periods of time. This study investigated the impact of an 8-month classroom-based intervention focusing on reducing and breaking-up sitting time on children's cardio-metabolic risk factors (i.e., body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure) and perceptions of musculoskeletal discomfort. Two Year-6 classes (24 students per class) in one primary school were assigned to either an intervention or control classroom. The intervention classroom was equipped with height-adjustable desks and the teacher was instructed in the delivery of pedagogical strategies to reduce and break-up sitting in class. The control classroom followed standard practice using traditional furniture. At baseline, and after 8-months, time spent sitting, standing, stepping, and sitting-bouts (occasions of continuous sitting) as well as the frequency of sit-to-stand transitions were obtained from activPAL inclinometers and the time spent in light-intensity physical activity was obtained from ActiGraph accelerometers. Demographics and musculoskeletal characteristics were obtained from a self-report survey. Hierarchical linear mixed models found that during class-time, children's overall time spent sitting in long bouts (>10 min) were lower and the number of sit-to-stand transitions were higher in the intervention group compared to the control group, while no changes were observed for musculoskeletal pain/discomfort. No significant intervention effects were found for the anthropometrics measures and blood pressure. Height-adjustable desks and pedagogical strategies to reduce/break-up sitting can positively modify classroom sitting patterns in children. Longer interventions, larger and varied sample size may be needed to show health impacts; however, these desks did not increase musculoskeletal pain/discomfort.