FACTS
- If the hard hats that you have chosen to have an adjustable strap, this must be used to ensure the hat is properly secure.
- The inside of a hard hat must be cleaned, and the sweatbands must be replaced regularly. This is to ensure that workers aren’t put off wearing one when they due to hygiene issues with the PPE.
- Hard hats must be inspected for damage regularly. This damage could be to the shell or the adjustable straps.
- Once a hard hat has taken any significant damage, it must be discarded immediately.
- If a hard hat has become very scratched or worn over time but has not been struck with any immense force, it must still be discarded. If you are unsure about the state of your hard hat, check with the manufacturer.
- Hard hats must be worn correctly, this means ensuring that they fit properly and are on straight, not sloping off to one side. A hard hat that’s not on correctly simply won’t offer the necessary protection.
- A hard hat must not be customised with stickers or paint, nor should they be modified structurally in any way. For example, you shouldn’t drill any extra ventilation holes in them, as this could affect their ability to absorb an impact.
STATS
- More than 65,000 cases involving days away from work occurred due to head injuries in the workplace
- 1,020 workers died from head injuries sustained on the job.
- More than 2 million disabling work injuries occur every year, 25 % of which involve the head, eyes or face.
- Injuries to the head are common in the workplace, accounting for approximately 10% of all occupational injuries. More than 120,000 disabling injuries to the head occur each year. Injuries are often severe with an average loss time of three weeks. Most employees who receive head injuries were not wearing head protection nor was it required by their employers.
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are the primary type of head injuries. TBI is a significant cause of death and disability in the United States, contributing to about 30% of all injury death. Despite the security given to workers from the safety helmet standard, there are still incidents of traumatic brain injury, especially in construction, where there were 2,200 fatalities.
- According to a survey about worksite accidents and injuries conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 84% of all workers who suffered head injuries were not wearing head protection.
- Construction workers are most likely to sustain a head injury following a fall from a dangerous height or after being struck by a falling object or by a piece of heavy equipment. OSHA reports that 294 out of the 796 fatal construction injuries nationwide were due to falls. Another 82 construction deaths resulted from a worker being struck by an object.