Image Credit: Select Safety Sales, LLC

Helmets and hardhats are safety devices that protect a worker’s head from falling debris and other hazards. Helmets and hard hats are used in industrial, manufacturing, and construction applications to ensure that workers are protected from electrical hazards, burns, falling objects, and from bumping into fixed objects.

Helmets and hard hats must resist penetration, absorb shock, be water resistant and slow to burn, and be adjustable. Hard hats come with a plastic liner that fits securely to the head. The hard hat liner ensures that there is an open space between the rigid helmet and the top of the head, to absorb the blow from a falling object. A safety hard hat is made of plastic, polycarbonate, or light weight metals such as aluminum.

Types of Helmets and Hardhats

• Aluminum hard hat - Often used in logging or mining.
• Construction hard hat - Protects workers from electrical hazards by providing some insulation from shock.
• Welding helmet - A full face helmet that protects the operator from sparks and includes darkening lenses that protect the welder’s eyes from the intense heat and light produced by the equipment.
• Fire helmet - Typically composed of a special thermoplastic material to ensure it is resistant to both heat and impact.
• Carbon fiber helmet - Often used by motorcyclists and horseback riders.
• Camera helmet - May be fitted with specialty recording equipment such as digital cameras and microphones. A camera helmet is frequently used to record sporting events, but may also be used in mining or high-risk construction or engineering environments.
• Diving helmet - A fully sealed, waterproof helmet used by divers in underwater construction applications that is connected to a surface supply of oxygen.  

Standards

GGG-H-211 - HELMETS, WELDERS'; HANDSHIELD, WELDING; AND PLATES, WELDING

A-A-55202 - HELMET, FIREMAN'S

BS 5240 - SPECIFICATION FOR GENERAL PURPOSE INDUSTRIAL SAFETY HELMETS

FORD SD4-1 - HELMETS - "HARD HATS"