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Can You Hear Me?
Noise-induced hearing loss is preventable. The effect is permanent. The result can be life-changing injuries that can seriously impair a worker’s...
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Hard Hats Made Easy
It is important to provide workers with appropriate head protection for their specific requirements. In this article, we suggest a 3-step process in selecting, accessorising and branding an appropriate hard hat for your specific requirements.
When choosing the appropriate helmet, consider whether it is important that your safety helmet is CE marked and meets the standards required for your specific working environments. Primarily, there are two key industry standards to be aware of:
EN 397: industrial safety helmets is concerned with ensuring protection against falling objects and the consequences thereof, such as brain damage and skull fracture. To achieve this certification, key performance requirements include adequate shock absorption, penetration resistance, flame resistance and chin strap anchorage (whereby the chin strap will release at a minimum of 150N and maximum of 250N).
EN 50365: electrically insulated helmets is concerned with ensuring protection against electric shocks and dangerous electric currents passing through the head. This is typically an additional standard required for safety helmets when working on low voltage live electrical installations up. Therefore, helmets in this bracket need to comply with both EN 397 and EN 50365.
Accessories you might consider
Hard hats should not hinder but help workers by empowering them at work and allowing them to focus on the job at hand. To achieve this, they should be comfortable to wear and complementary to specific jobs, whilst enhancing safety performance.
Accessories can help to achieve this such as sweatbands – consider options that have a large width to allow for better comfort and sweat absorption using soft, moisture-absorbing & respiring materials that can be washed, reused and eventually replaced.
Winter liners can help protect workers from the cold, contributing to improved comfort. Consider checking whether the liner has been tested and certified for use with the helmet.
Many environments call for helmet accessories to protect an operative’s face and eyes. When selecting a visor, consider whether it has anti-fog and anti-scratch coatings and whether it is suitable for use with or without spectacles.
Lamp brackets can be attached to your helmet’s shell, enabling you to attach convenient hands-free lamps that can be ideal for working in dark and confined spaces.
Consider whether using chinstraps can help enhance worker safety and the overall fit and comfort of a helmet.
Noise cancelling ear protection can be added to your helmet to protect against loud obtrusive noises, whilst still enabling face-to-face communication.
Branding
To improve differentiation, hard hats can be customised with different colours and logos, making it easy for workers to immediately identify those models tailored to their specific working needs when they arrive on site. Additionally, further customisation can be added to enhance visibility or promote safety practices on site.
Company branding can be added to helmets which enhances professionalism and can provide subtle branding and marketing opportunities. This can also serve to unify workforces and foster a greater sense of pride and belonging.
Where do I get them?
At MSA Safety, a Logo Express service means that you can have branded hard hats manufactured within as little as five days.
Picture: You can get hard hats and hard caps customised at MSA Safety.
www.gb.msasafety.com/customhardhats
Article written by Cathryn Ellis
07th December 2023