When you think of a hard hat, chances are you picture a hard hat with a full brim. That&#;s because full brim hard hats have been around for a long time and are the most traditional type of head protection.
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But how do you choose the best full brim hard hat for you?
Based on our years of manufacturing and selling safety helmets, we&#;ve asked our sales team what customers are looking for most &#; and here&#;s what they had to say.
Site requirements are the number one factor to help you choose the type and style of head protection that is needed.
Hopefully you already have a safety helmet program that details the types of head protection needed per your specific occupation and applications, but if not &#; no sweat. We have a complementary guide to building a safety helmet program that can help.
Plus, periodic evaluations of your head safety program help keep your safety parameters and practices up to date with current demand and compliance requirements &#; and now might be a good time to reassess.
Site requirements can look like:
There are two main classes used, E and C, but three classes overall:
Tip: Please note that non-vented helmets are not guaranteed to be Class E; in fact, they can be Class E, G, or C.
Overall, it&#;s best to use hard hats with a chin strap if your helmet is at risk of falling off on the worksite. This keeps the protective gear firmly in place, for example, during a slip, trip, or working at height, thus reducing the chance of a severe head injury.
If a chin strap is desired/required, here are some follow-up questions:
Tip: Please note that for an appropriate helmet to be selected for workers, safety professionals must make the best-informed decision possible in accordance with safety helmet standards.
Comfort and fit are two huge motivators when accepting a new type of head protection into a workers&#; PPE lineup. Because proper comfort and fit are often subjective to each wearer, there are several factors a safety helmet can offer to achieve this.
At the end of the day, it&#;s important to trial the helmet that meets your site requirements and has the additional comfort and fit features you think will work best for you.
Factors that affect comfort + fit:
This is a big one&#;different helmet brands and styles offer different sitting heights. By this, we mean the height from your head to the top of the inner helmet. A higher sitting height can feel wobbly and unstable, whereas a lower sitting height typically feels more balanced.
Hex tip: Some helmets, like our Ceros® safety helmet line, have a lower sitting height/center of gravity and adjustable straps to deliver a more custom fit and feel.
Something not often thought about that makes a big difference is strap material. The two most used materials used are nylon and polyester.
Both are known for their strength but have slight differences. Nylon is a synthetic polymer commonly used in strap suspension systems due to its durability and ability to withstand repeated use, whereas polyester is more widely known to provide flexibility and comfort for the wearer.
Hex tip: HexArmor® uses soft polyester straps that are ultrasonically welded to eliminate the discomfort and weakness resulting from stitching the fabric together.
Sweatbands can be made from several types of materials, such as cotton, polyester, and nylon. Overall, you want something comfortable against the skin and effective at absorbing moisture. Opting for a sweatband made with softer material could be the difference between all-day comfort and frustration.
Hex tip: HexArmor&#;s sweatbands are made from synthetic leather for optimal comfort and sweat-wicking capability.
When wearing a hard hat with ventilation, pay attention to where the air vents are located on the shell. Most often, you will see ventilation on the sides.
Additionally, ventilation typically found in a Class C helmet is often wanted due to working in higher temperature environments &#; especially in the summer months. For more information on heat stress, read this blog.
Hex tip: HexArmor&#;s Ceros® Class C safety helmets have vents at the front and back, leaving the wearer with a logical front-to-back airflow that offers more cooling comfort. Plus, they&#;re adjustable.
We&#;ve found that finding and using the right helmet accessories has become a huge need over the last couple of years, especially if you like a full brim hard hat style.
If you don&#;t need accessories on your jobsite or in your application, keep this in your back pocket in case that ever changes. But if you do, finding the right safety helmet that aligns with your accessory use is imperative, so we&#;ve compiled some questions to help you narrow down your options.
As always, check site requirements to see what you need (or conduct a job site analysis).
Popular accessories you may need on the job:
Questions to think about:
Hex tip: Choose comfortable hearing protection with proper fit, function, and features. See what sets ours apart.
Questions to think about:
Hex tip: Finding the perfect amount of anti-fog and scratch-resistant coverage is imperative for safety&#;and unlike the competition, our coating is permanent. Learn more about our TruShield® coating technology.
These are becoming more and more mandatory on the job. If needed, questions to think about:
Hex tip: All Ceros® XP safety helmets are compatible with a premium four-point chin strap that&#;s padded, adjustable, and metal-free.
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Questions to think about:
Hex tip: HexArmor&#;s full brim safety helmets are compatible with several lighting options to make your head protection customizable and convenient.
The current head protection PPE category has a depth to it that simply didn&#;t exist ten years ago. And it&#;s constantly evolving. These days, there are options from basic to super-premium and everything in between. With so many styles and innovations, it can be challenging to choose the hard hat or safety helmet that&#;s right for you.
That&#;s why designing a full-brim style has always been a priority for us at HexArmor® - we wanted to bring quality innovation to the commodity-style hard hat/helmet category.
We knew workers deserved more than a &#;me-too&#; solution, which is why we were adamant our new design not only live up to our customers&#; standards but be made in the same country where it would serve the workers we made it for.
Introducing the Ceros® full-brim safety helmet, proudly made in the USA. Our full brim safety helmet delivers the traditional look and feel workers love, all while being a premium product without the price tag.
We focused on premium, reliable safety performance and worker-approved comfort, fit, and style. Find a completely pre-assembled four-point suspension system for a low profile, balanced center of gravity fit, a large customization area in the front that&#;s perfect for your company logo, and so much more.
Let us know if you need help or are ready to start a trial&#;our Solution Specialists are ready to help. Call 1.877.MY ARMOR or send us a message.
Learn more about Ceros® XP300 full brim safety helmets
*Disclaimer*
The information contained on this page is for promotional and informational purposes only. All equipment should be used by trained professional tradesmen who have been trained how to use the equipment described on this page, and understand the risks of their work. PowerPak assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the use or misuse of any product purchased. In no event shall PowerPak be liable for any direct, special, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other torts, arising out of or in connection with the use of this information or the contents of this page. PowerPak reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modifications to the contents on this page at any time without prior notice.
There isn&#;t much you can say about hard hats that every construction worker doesn&#;t already know. You put it on your head and if it does its job, you get to go home at the end of the day, unharmed.
Honestly, that&#;s all you really NEED to know. If you always wear your hard hat when you are supposed to, you&#;re doing great.
But if you are interested in learning if you have the right kind of head protection, when and where are hard hats required, or what exactly do they protect you from, you should keep reading. We are going to do our best to answer all of those question and more.
Hard hats are helmets designed for work environments such as manufacturing, industrial and construction sites to protect the head from injury. The outside shells are usually made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or a polycarbonate resin as they are strong, easy to mold, lightweight, and do not conduct electricity. The shell is rigid, and its main purpose is to deflect blows to the head.
They come with a suspension system made of woven nylon webbing strips and bands of nylon, vinyl, or molded HDPE. The suspension system and the internal foam lining serve as a shock absorber and an insulator against electrical shocks. Some helmets also feature a shield for your face and neck to prevent contact with any harmful materials.
There are a couple of different ways to answer this question. Most employers want to avoid fines and need to know what OSHA requires.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules state that hard hats must be used whenever there is a possibility of head injury from impact and penetration, or from falling or flying objects, or from electrical shock and burns.
That&#;s a fairly broad statement and doesn&#;t really clear up the specifics of what OSHA expects. In Bret Barnard wrote a letter to OSHA&#;s Directorate of Construction (Russell Swanson), asking for clarifications for his specific work conditions.
Bret explained that his roofing workers wear hard hats to get on and off the roof, but while on the roof, they remove the hard hats because none of the OSHA defined risks are present.
Mr. Swanson agreed that the workers were NOT in violation of OSHA regulations 29 CFR .100. Which is surprising, considering these workers are on an active jobsite and are not wearing head protection.
Head protection related OSHA violations come down to decisions based on a hazard assessment. If an adequate hazard or risk assessment has been made the resulting decisions are difficult to fine.
BUT the OSHA regulation is only one part of hard hat requirements. If you&#;re familiar with the term &#;My house, my rules&#;, you know what&#;s coming up.
Employer hard hat requirements are often much stricter than the OSHA requirements. In the example with Mr. Barnard and his roofers, the roofers were not in violation of the OSHA regulation, but they were in violation of the GC&#;s jobsite policy.
There are a number of reasons why an employer would implement a stricter policy, and those reasons could include insurance requirements, regulations set by local government or property owners, or simply from past experiences.
Examples of some industries that you&#;ll often expect to wear head protection include:
The story goes as follows, in a San Francisco company, E.D. Bullard Company, now known as Bullard, modified doughboy army helmets to fit the function of protecting mine workers from falling debris. It worked, and it worked so well that a decade later, hard hats were required PPE during the construction of the Golden Gate bridge to protect workers from falling rivets. Again, it worked, saving lives, and preventing unnecessary injury.
That was over 100 years ago, and although the design and technology behind hard hats have developed, the basic idea is the same. The main reason for wearing hard hats is to protect yourself from head or brain injuries which can cause concussions and have long-term effects on your physical and mental health. In the worst-case scenario, traumatic brain injuries can even lead to nerve damage, paralysis, or death.
Worker&#;s that choose not to wear head protection often do so supported by the thought, &#;What are the chances&#;. Well, if you work in construction, the risk is high. Even with regulations in place nearly workers died in . When it comes to head injuries, the goal is to avoid TBI (traumatic brain injuries), which have a high probability of resulting in death or severe disabilities. TBI&#;s can be caused by object falling on you from above, walking into objects and other side impact occurrences, or tripping and falling causing head injuries. In many cases, the use of head protection would prevent serious head injury in any of these hazards.
Employers are responsible for providing their employees with hard hats that comply with the job requirements and provide sufficient protection considering the nature of work. It is also the employer&#;s responsibility to train their workers to use and maintain their hard hats. Typically, the training should include:
To get the most protection from your hard hat, you must ensure it is worn properly. The first thing to look out for is the fit; there should be enough room between the shell and suspension system for proper ventilation, while the helmet should not be too big or too small. Once you have the size right, you can follow the instructions below to learn how to wear your hard hat.
Hard hats are also divided into types and classes depending on the degree of impact and protection from electrical hazards. There are two types of hard hats which are defined by the area of the head that is protected.
Another type of helmet known as Type III is also available, which protects the head and is used in bushfire fighting by emergency personnel.
These hard hats are also divided into three classes, each categorized according to the degree of electrical protection they offer:
Additional features and attachments of accessories can also provide greater protection, such as a hard hat face shield, noise-canceling gear, respirator, or work lamp. Other beneficial features can include color coding, which can provide a safer environment at any worksite.
Regular maintenance can increase the life of your hard hat by helping you identify and mitigate any signs of damage to ensure you are always protected.
If the helmet&#;s structural integrity has been damaged, you need to replace the hat immediately. However, even if you take excellent care of your hard hat, the material deteriorates over time and must be replaced every three years.
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