When To Wear a Hard Hat

If you’re like most employers, I’m sure you’ve got a lot more to worry about in running your business this year without having to think about whether or not your employees are wearing hard hats.

Here at the Discount Safety Store, we often get many questions from construction and industrial workers asking us, “When am I supposed to wear a hard hat?” And much more importantly, “When do my employees need to wear head protection as well?” Although there are differing opinions as to the exact time and place that hard hats should be worn, we’ve put together a short set of guidelines that we hope will help you and your employees make it through the work day a bit smoother – and safer.

You must provide head protection for your employees if:

• There is a risk of objects falling from above that may have a reasonable chance of striking them on the head
• They have a reasonable risk of bumping their heads against fixed objects such as exposed pipes or beams
• They are working near exposed electrical conductors or in other related environments

In general, all hard hats and other related protective head wear should:

• Be resistant to penetration by all other objects on the job site
• Easily be able to absorb the shock of a blow
• Be water and fire resistant
• Be properly worn at all times according to the instructions for each specific type of hard hat

Hard hats require a hard outer shell along with a shock-absorbing lining. The hard hat shock absorbing lining should incorporate a head band along with straps that suspend the shell from 1 to 1.25 inches (2.54 cm to 3.18 cm) away from the wearer’s head. This design provides shock absorption during impact and also allows for ventilation during wear.