There really isn’t any excuse for not wearing a hard hat on jobs that require one. The miracles of chemistry and manufacturing have turned out head protection to fit every need and about every taste.
Hard hats should be worn on all jobs where hazards exist from falling or flying objects; harmful contact, or exposure to electrical shock. That includes a lot of jobs.
There are many ways head injuries can occur:
Objects falling on a person working with stacks of materials,
Falling tools,
Falling tree limbs,
Objects hanging from or dropping from overhead.
The list could much longer, and you can probably add to it yourselves.
You may recall of instances where a newspaper carried a story about a hard hat saving the life of a young worker on a sewer construction project. He was caught in a cave in. As the dirt closed in around him, his hard hat slipped over his face, and the air was trapped in the hat kept him alive until he could be uncovered by rescuers. So the security offered by protective equipment is often broader than you may realize.
Like all things that your well-being depends upon, hard hats should be treated with care. If they are damaged or the suspension cushion doesn’t fit well, they should be replaced. They should be kept clean, an, if a hard hat is assigned to someone after having been used by another employee, it should be sanitized.
Never paint ha hard hat unless authorized to do so, and only after the manufacturer has been contacted to determine if the paint will soften the shell material or cause other damage.
Hard hats or protective helmets as they are technically referred to, are of four types—or classes A, B, C, and D. Each of these classes must meet certain requirements for withstanding voltage and impact There is no single hard hat that necessarily fills the protection requirements of all types of jobs. So, naturally it is important to follow safety rules and always wear the type of hard hat specified and issued for your particular job.
Chin straps and winter liners are used with some hard hats. They shouldn’t contain metallic parts or conductive materials if used on high voltage protection hard hats. Likewise if liners or straps are used on jobs where there is a danger of ignition from heat flame or chemical reaction, they should be made of non-burning materials.
An injury report never makes peasant reading. But it’s particularly disturbing to read that the injured person had been instructed to wear a hard and didn’t.
So, a hard hat not only gives protection, but it’s a symbol too. It shows that the person who is wearing it, has brains and he wants to keep them.
All content from the University of Arkansas