Helmets & Hats
A hard hat is a type of helmet predominantly used in workplace environments, such as construction sites, to protect the head from injury by falling objects, debris, bad weather, and electric shock. Sometimes the helmet shell has a midline ridge. more...
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Inside the helmet is a suspension which spreads the helmet's weight over the top of the head, providing spacing between the helmet's shell and the head so that if an object strikes the head, a safety distance cushion of approximately 3cm lessens the blow.
They are typically required personal protective equipment where heavy labor is being performed. They were originally made from metal, then fiberglass, but from the 1950s rigid plastic has been the most common material.
Its lower edge sometimes has a small gutter to catch rainwater and shed it off the front peak; but that needs the lower edge of the helmet to be horizontal instead of coming further down the back of the head.
Fiberglass hard hats, which are brown, shed water without big drops forming.
A hardhat issued by a firm often has that firm's name or some word or logo on its front.
Hardhats may also be fitted with:
Visor:
A welding visor, or;
A thinner version of a riotsquad helmet visor;
;
Ear protectors;
Mirrors for increased rear field-of-view;
A helmet light mount;
A chinstrap to avoid the helmet falling off if the workman bends far forwards.;
Blue-collar workers who engage in heavy professions that require protective equipment are sometimes called \"hard hats\".
On construction sites hard hat colors can signify different roles. For instance: white for supervisors, blue for technical advisors, red for safety inspectors, and yellow for workmen.
A hard hat also gives a worker a distinctive profile, identifiable even in peripheral vision, for safety around equipment or traffic. Safety colors like orange or green do not appear in peripheral vision, but the hard hatted shape of a worker will be avoided.
Even if a hard hat is properly inspected and cared for, it should be replaced after five years of use.
In 1997, the American National Standards Institute revised its performance standards for hard hats. Conformity to these standards and regulation are not necessary but almost all manufactures comply:
ANSI Type I / CSA Type 1 hard hats meet stringent vertical impact and penetration requirements.;
ANSI Type II / CSA Type 2 hard hats meet both vertical and lateral impact and penetration requirements and have a foam inner liner of expanded polystyrene (EPS).;
There are standards for electrical use in hard hats, which protect the wearer from electrical current.;
ANSI have compliance for hard hats and their combustibility or flammability criteria.;
History
Management professor Peter Drucker credits writer Franz Kafka with developing the first civilian hard hat when he was employed at the Worker's Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia (1912).
Read more at Wikipedia.org
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