Do you know your hard hats?

In the UK (and in many other countries), you will hardly ever see anyone on a building site without a hard hat. Even with the best control measures in place, the risk of head injury is just too high. Just wearing a hard hat is, however, not enough to ensure safety. You need to wear the right hard hat in the right way. Here is what you need to know.

Choose the right hard hat for your role

This can be a bit of a challenge. According to Build UK, the colour-coding for hard hats is as follows:

• White: site managers, competent operatives, and vehicle marshals.
• Orange: slingers and signallers.
• Black: site supervisors.
• Blue: all others on site who do not fall into the above categories, including visitors.

First aiders and fire marshals will have green and red stickers on their hats respectively. People in other niche roles can be given high-viz vests in specific colours.

This system will probably be applied on most building sites in the UK. It will not, however, necessarily be applied on all of them. For example Network Rail currently only allows blue and white hard hats on their sites. Other companies might follow older conventions or even just have their own rules. In short, therefore, always check what colour code is in use on any given site.

Make sure your hat works with your other PPE

If you need other PPE such as goggles, ear-protectors or a mask/respirator, make sure that your hard hat can accommodate them. By contrast, do not use your hard hat as a storage place for your personal items (or any other items). They might feel light as you’re walking around. If, however, something lands on your head, they can do you serious damage.

Make sure your hard hat fits correctly

It may be a pain to have to adjust your hard hat as soon as you arrive on site. It is, however, a whole lot less pain than not adjusting it. You need your hard hat to be snug enough so it stays on securely even when you’re moving your head. At the same time, you need it to be loose enough to be comfortable. In particular, you need your blood to be able to flow freely.

Do not put anything underneath your hard hat, not even if it’s light, slim, material such as a bandana. If you have long hair, make sure that it’s tied back on your neck rather than on your head. Similarly, if you’re using any sort of hair clips, make sure that they stay below the level of your hard hat.

Take care of your hard hat

You should always check a hard hat before you put it on. If it shows any external signs of damage, then choose another one and report the damage to the first hard hat.

Treat it gently, do not use it as a toy. Keep it out of sunlight as much as possible and do not put paint or stickers on it unless you are specifically told to do so. If chemicals are spilled on it or it is subject to impact, change it for another one and report the incident.

Good to know

If your business enjoys staying proactive within the industry, there are opportunities for staff and workers to continue learning about health and safety, with hard hats specifically. Construction sites should have proper protection for all its workers and PPE is the best place to start.

The sad reality of some industry environments is that injury and even death can occur if the proper protection is not applied. Brain injuries in particular are more common than most think and that’s why wearing the appropriate gear can save a life and avoid serious life-changing industries.