Hard hat history
Hard hat history
(OP)
I enjoy watching engineering type programs on TV.....about constructing the tallest building, the longest bridge, the largest ship, or whatever. In watching these various programs, I have noticed that any construction that occurs outside of the USA, all of the construction workers are wearing hard hats with a chin strap. While intuitively it seems like a logical idea, I have never seen this practice in the USA. Is this a geographic thing, a cultural thing, both? It probably boils down to money like everything else, but it just seems for being as safety conscious as we are these days, our hard hats would have chin straps.
RE: Hard hat history
If a projectile does strike the helmet, there is a chance that the force from the blow will cause the helmet to dislodge, taking your head with it if the chin strap is attached.
That would ruin your day.
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
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RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
However, chin straps were used in the military - it helps to have a heavy helmet kept in place when you are running and jumping around.
RE: Hard hat history
http://blog.usa.skanska.com/why-were-piloting-a-ne...
Our company is considering it.. although we're expecting some push-back when we make site visits (even though the ones we're looking at are ANSI rated).
----
The name is a long story -- just call me Lo.
RE: Hard hat history
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RE: Hard hat history
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Hard hat history
Dik
RE: Hard hat history
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
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RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
I can walk upright anywhere within a submarine and not hit anything with my head.
... unless I'm wearing a hard hat; then I hit every damn thing in the overhead.
One fine day I set my hard hat down on a torpedo rack or some other handy surface while I was tending to some problem not far away.
I came back not twenty minutes later, and somebody had done a beautiful job of painting an officer's 'scrambled eggs' on the brim, in aluminum paint. Not surprised that a random object got painted; there was _always_ a crew of painters on board while we built them. I was surprised at the detail work, because the painters weren't issued artists brushes, just a long handled 1" sash brush with a cranked ferrule.
I was actually quite proud of that hat, simple recognition of my rank as a young pushy asshole, which was sort of my job at the time.
I wish I'd kept it. Not the job; the hat.
</tangent>
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Hard hat history
That's where I heard the joke about the difference between an engineer and a millwright; An engineer washes his hands BEFORE he goes to the bathroom.
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
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RE: Hard hat history
thanks, Dik
RE: Hard hat history
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Hard hat history
I wish my partner had been using one when he dropped his hard hat from the 200 foot level of a coker.
Bill
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"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Hard hat history
Prettymuch every helmet other than hard hats has a chin-strap.
The Skanska design looks nice.
RE: Hard hat history
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
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RE: Hard hat history
Both had lightweight chin straps, barely enough to hold them on when you looked down.
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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
RE: Hard hat history
I agree that the use of helmets in some environments is almost pointless, anything which comes through 2' of reinforced concrete substation roof won't be stopping for my hard hat. But the rules say I have to wear one, so that's how it is...
RE: Hard hat history
Every picture I see of (modern day) military personnel shows them with chin straps on. Certainly pilots, airborne types and tank drivers are usually wearing them...how would a helmet stay on your head through a snap roll/jump from a plane/run through an obstacle course without it?
I have a distinct memory of my friend, as a USMC sergeant, berating one of his troopers who was on duty and had his chin strap unhooked (this was in late 80s, first of the new kevlar helmets).
Helmet specs since the end of WW2 have included a breakaway buckle to prevent injuries due to the helmet hanging up on something.
RE: Hard hat history
Ever see someone mowing the lawn with a hard hat? It's outside work.
On the other hand, we require people who replace electric meters to wear a face shield attached to a hard hat, because of the flash potential of 480 VAC. Nothing is going to fall on them, but it holds the face shield.
RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Hard hat history
A.
RE: Hard hat history
No face shield for arc-flash? Or acid spray?
No fall protection?
I think hard hats are just the starting point for most PPE.
RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
I also see that I might need a flotation device if I'm not wearing the right fall protection, while I am around a cooling tower.
But PPE is not everything that might be needed. Railing, or approach distance markings, or other such might be required.
But warning signs don't work if the person does not see or read them, or decides to ignore them.
RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
Mechanics wear Bump Hats.
There is a difference.
Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter
RE: Hard hat history
Here's a picture taken during the installation of a final bread proofer at a bakery in Forth Worth, TX:
Taken October, 1971 (Minolta SRT-101)
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Hard hat history
We agreed to trial bump caps last year for work within substations because the safety guys weren't happy with us not wearing hard hats. We were undertaking major maintenance on a large MCC and there was a credible risk of someone standing up beneath an open panel door and hurting themselves. We found they were lighter and more comfortable than a hard hat, and less prone to falling forward or falling off. The downside was that at least one of us
RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
If I'm working aloft, I'll chuck it in the corner and use a climbing helmet (which complies with the same standards) instead - proper harness, better view in all directions, but too pricey to be left lying around at random and lost.
...and isn't it time somebody mentioned the Kafkaesque nature of some of the PPE rules?
A.
RE: Hard hat history
I work for an energy transport company. That sounds more impressive than 'pipeline, doesn't it?
Our PPE is chiseled in stone and accorded more respect than Moses' tablets.
One of our rules is that you must ALWAYS wear a hard hat. Always. Like when you're working on a pipeline right of way twenty miles from civilization, in the middle of a soybean field where the tallest object with a one-mile radius is three feet.
In case of, you know, meteorites 'n' stuff...
old field guy
RE: Hard hat history
Sort of like when I worked in an engineering office, how you dressed was sort of sign of your place in the 'pecking order'. Now this was back in the 60's and 70's, but where I worked, the draftsmen all wore short-sleeved white shirts and if you wore a tie, it was usually a bow-tie. Supervisors and designers wore long-sleeved white shirts and usually a necktie. Managers and engineers wore suits or at least sport coats. Now this was just in the office. When you were in the field, managers still wore their suits but when engineers were at a customer site it was usually to help install or update some piece of equipment so we wore company 'greens' and bump hats.
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Hard hat history
They always got turned back in to the contractor.
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Hard hat history
green - newbie or visitor
brown - shop, warehouse, mechanics, welders
white - management / engineers
red - EMT / safety
yellow - drillers and equipment operators
grease color - oilers
RE: Hard hat history
One use I totally agreed with was a company that had a distinctive color for the electrical staff. Nobody wearing another color was allowed inside the switchgear and motor control areas.
old field guy
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The Royal Navy uses Blue helmets for ratings and white for senior rates and officers (and the Enemy wear berets even when below decks).
A.
RE: Hard hat history
RE: Hard hat history
Your comments on the white shirts and ties stuck a nerve in me. My first job out of school was as a Facilities Engineer in the Aerospace industry. In one month, I graduated as a CE (5 year curriculum), got married, bought my first car and moved from MN to Southern California. I went to work for the supplier and developer of the rocket engines for 90% of the space program. When I arrived and was ushered to my drawing board and desk, I noticed that every one wore the same uniform - Cotton/polyester short sleeve shirt, black or blue slacks and a narrow dark tie (usually black) and this applied to everyone including managers and supervisors out of convenience. The short sleeves were just common sense because of the weather in the LA area and at Edwards AFB. The only way to tell the rank was to look at the ID badge to determine the security level clearance.
We were strongly encouraged/forced to take evening engineering classes (graduate school)to boost your resume (undated by the company monthly) for submission of the "team" for new projects that required development. I had classes 3 or 4 nights per week at USC for 2 years and felt at home since all of the engineers in the class from different employers were dressed the same. The evening classes were great since the employer paid the tuition, and paid for dinner before class and for driving 40 miles per night. It was the second best position I had in my 40 years of engineering because of the exposure to real very challenging engineering.
Dick
Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.
RE: Hard hat history
John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
RE: Hard hat history
I wore a tie to my daughters wedding, but not my Dad's funeral.
I never were a tie for work anymore, not even in Europe or Asia.
Nice slacks and shirt, very nice sports coats, and killer shoes.
Working out of a home office it can be hard to motivate yourself some mornings to not just pull on shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops. But I try to dress in collared shirts real shoes every day.
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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
RE: Hard hat history
I was doing some research on safety standards in Commonwealth countries a while back when I came across this: http://www.protecdirect.co.uk/Protec-PPE-Blog/Hard...
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The EAC - One People, One Destiny... One Federation.
RE: Hard hat history
The straps were incredibly uncomfortable, increased the heat load and stress while at 98 degrees/95% humidity.
RE: Hard hat history
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www.PeirceEngineering.com