Saturday, August 24, 2013

Hard Hats As A Safety Precaution

By Debra Cooley


In any job site, it is always important to have all types of precautions, such as wearing hard hats. It is a kind of helmet that are used to safeguard you from injuries resulting from falling debris, objects, electric shocks, impact from other objects and electric shocks. In these hazardous environments, the safety of human life is the biggest concern there is.

Construction sites are one of the places that are required to take great precautions when it comes to safety. If any object falls or dropped from a very high elevation, anything below it will receive a fatal blow, especially if it hits someone on the head. This can result in serious medical conditions and other disabilities.

They can protect the most delicate parts of your body such as the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and your brain. A single injury can handicap you for the rest of your life. Protective equipment like eyeglasses or goggles, protective clothing, and steel toe boots are generally used along with the helmet to give a whole body protection.

These helmets are made to resist puncture from objects and to absorb the shocks from a blow. Most of them are also resistant to electricity and water and they should not easily get burned and must be properly ventilated for the comfort of the wearer. In the past they were made mostly of aluminum metal and fiberglass though the now they are mostly made of plastic which are very firm, durable, and light.

They are separated into three industrial classes. Class A helmets are designed for general service and they provide good impact absorption, but limited voltage protection. They are mainly used in mining, building construction, shipbuilding, lumbering and manufacturing. Class B are good for jobs that are engaged in electrical works.

These are great choice if you want to be more protected against burns or high voltage shocks aside from falling objects. Class C types, on another hand, were made for the comfort of the wearer and are more light in weight, yet they offer limited protection. Although it can prevent you from getting injured from bumping stationary objects, it cannot effectively protect the employee against electric shocks and falling materials.

They can be fitted with many other accessories needed for the job such as insulation pads, mirrors, flashlight or headlamps, and visors. Employers may also require them to have chinstraps and sweatbands to keep the helmet from falling off, which may become a hazard to the people working below. Those who work in road maintenance have florescent strips or reflective materials on their hats to be safer when working on the road.

With correct inspection and care, they can be employed for five years before it should be replaced. They also come in different colors to signify the roles on the job site. For example, white often worn by supervisors or engineers, blue for technical advisers and green is commonly worn by safety inspectors.

The blue ones may be for the technical advisers, green for safety inspector or maybe the medical staff, new employees and even visitors are often required to wear a different color to identify them. Hard hats should be cleaned regularly to extend its shelf life. The most important thing of all is that they should be worn at all times for maximum protection of everyone.




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