Hard Hats - Help Prevent Injuries and Death

A single head injury can handicap an employee for life – at worst, it can be fatal. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most workers who sustained injuries to the head were not wearing head protection. In most instances, employers had not required their employees to wear head protection. Interestingly, the vast majority of workers who wear hard hats all or most of the time at work believe that hard hats were practical for their jobs.  The head is most certainly a vital party of the body with many areas that must be protected – your eyes, ears, nose, mouth and brain are all necessary for functioning in daily life.

One of the easiest and most effective means of protection is the simple use of a hard hat.  Hard hats, as the name implies, have a rigid shell that deflects any impact to the head from debris or other materials. Additionally, inside the hard hat is a suspension system that acts as a shock absorber preventing injuries to the head and neck.  Some hats even serve as an insulator against electrical shocks.  Many hats can also be modified to add additional protections such as face shields, goggles, hoods or hearing protection enabling the hat to protect the entire face, neck and shoulders against not only hard matter, but potentially dangerous chemical splashes, spills and drips.

Hard hats protect employees from bumps with fixed objects or from falling objects.  A properly-worn hard hat will also protect the head in the event of a fall. The bright colors also make workers more highly visible, thus reducing the chance of accidents. Interestingly, hard hats, properly worn, provide more ventilation, making them cooler to wear than even a baseball cap.  Hats with brims also provide sun protection. It is easy to see why the use of hard hats has grown immensely over the past several years.