Hard Hats vs Helmets

Helmets are better than hard hats. They are stronger, lighter, and will stay on the user because of the chin straps. OSHA believes in this so much that they are putting all of their employees in helmets now. They justified this decision with data and insight published in November of 2023 then followed it up with the official notice of their employee’s head protection in December.

Still not sold? Don’t worry, I wasn’t either. Then I got to watching blooper reels. In the middle of laughing with the family, I realized that the first thing that came off any of these people, from skiers falling down a mountain, to scooter and skater kids was their headgear. Sometimes it was their shoes, but most times the first PPE that one loses in the event of something unexpected was their head protection.

• This is relevant in my mind in four all-to-common scenarios in shipbuilding and repair:
  Wind or looking over an edge
• I have replaced so many hard hats over the years of employees who have lost them looking over the side of a vessel or having them blow off their heads in times of high wind.
  Slip trip fall
• If an employee’s hard hat is loose when the employee slips or trips, the hard hat can fly off leaving the head exposed to injury upon impact from the ground. This happens when slipping forwards or backward or even down stairs and/or ladder wells.
• Fall from heights with a harness
  Even though the employee has been saved by a fall arresting device, they will still need their head protection to remain in place in the event of swinging impact to the structure they are tied to or working on. It’s most likely that due to the jarring nature of the arrest, a traditional hard hat will fall off.
• Working in tight spaces
  Running a grinder under a deck plate, cleaning a wing wall, or maneuvering around scaffolding and tented areas are examples of times when I have seen employees remove their hard hats to be able to work.

Unfortunately, some things never really make sense until you’ve actually witnessed or been a part of the response to an accident. Here is the real-world scenario that I hope will truly catch your attention and give serious pause to “business as usual”:

• Who: A jointly employed coatings employee
• What: An incident involving an employee who was struck in the head by a falling piece of metal.
• When: June 2023
• Where: In a drydock in the Port of Virginia
• Why: Findings were inconclusive of a reason for why the metal fell or was dropped, however, the company working above the injured employee could have considered roping off the area below and/or placing a spotter to raise the awareness of an overhead hazard.

Here is the employee’s description of the incident:

“I was working in the dry dock gathering materials and equipment for the next part of the job. My supervisor asked me to grab a hose then a bomb exploded out of nowhere. It was huge. Like a flashbang. I fell to the ground and had a heavy ringing in my ears. I was like damn, what happened?! Then I saw the blood on my hands and knew immediately that there was a danger. I even thought it might have been some kind of attack. Other employees dragged me to the front of the yard as I went into shock. I had no idea what was going on with me. Did someone shoot me? Was this a bomb? This isn’t supposed to be happening. I am at work, right?”

This employee suffered a concussion, cheek laceration, decreased vision, and post-traumatic stress from an overhead hazard. A piece of rebar metal had fallen from above the employee and struck them in the head. The employee was wearing a traditional hard hat. It knocked them to the ground and knocked the hard hat off in the process.

The injured employee with his new safety helmet after receiving a full-duty release (image).

This employee has now been out of work in a modified duty program for seventeen weeks. Had this employee been wearing a helmet instead, there may have been less severe injuries. Most importantly, it is likely that the employee actually struck their head twice: once from the metal and again on the dry dock after collapsing.

“I never thought something like this would happen. The hard hat saved my life. I feel blessed. It’s an important piece of PPE to have. You never know when something can happen to you. I never in a million years thought something would fall from the sky to hurt me. You’ve got to be aware of yourself and others. Make sure your people are protecting themselves.”

Hopefully, it doesn’t take another incident for all to realize the importance of safety and proper PPE in the ship repair environment. We all want to go home to watch America’s Funniest Videos and spend time with our families. Let’s make that happen together.