While working on drilling rigs as a summer job, my hard hat saved my life, twice
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Hard hat protocol doesn't filter down to local builders and arborists. During the demolition of our old house and construction of the new one on the site I saw nary a hard hat.
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“Head protection reinvented, Ms. Bullard said. “One hundred years ago, we invented it, and now we’re reinventing it.”
Funny. Bullard did invent the hard hat, but they CERTAINLY didn’t reinvent the new generation of helmets! They are simply reacting to the market once they had competition.
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Workers who suffer chronic headaches and migraines have statistically poor compliance with protective hard hats. In many cases those headaches come from previous workplace injuries or strains. Bodywork, massage, hitting the gym or yoga studio is extra important for combatting the rigors of a blue collar job and help in keeping that helmet on.
Hard hats also save your skull from low headroom spaces, wires, hangers, beams and pipes that you may not see to avoid. Worth their weight in gold.
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"A symbol of status and masculinity" What? Does the author live in a town where hard hats are plated in gold? Also, in the town I live in, many women wear them.
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I'm a woman who frequently visits construction sites and I'm often the only woman there. I actually feel much less conspicuous when I have my hard hat on -- it looks just like everyone else's and it feels like an equalizer.
However, I know a number of general contractors who keep hot pink loaner hats on site to shame workers who forget their own.
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As a now retired neurologist I have counseled many others over the years about the use of hardhats and helmets (a hardhat with a chin strap) in potentially dangerous occupations or sports such as climbing, bicycling, football and hockey. They not only save lives but save brains from the potentially devastating effects of traumatic brain injury.
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A symbol of status and masculinity??? Not where I live.
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"Once I built a tower, now it's done..."
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Curious about some of the stories related here. I believe F= MA is still in effect. A bolt, tree limb, or other item falling 6, 10, or 20 stories might overwhelm a hardhat.
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Try it without a hard hat like when I worked on construction in the 50’s. I suspect Trump will repeal this costly, unnecessary regulation.
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I would expect DJT, the ultimate friend of the working-class, to command OSHA to outlaw Hard Hats as soon as he has someone read and explain this article to him. The color pictures should also help him to grasp the concept. Perhaps his friends in the Mining, Shipbuilding, and Construction industries might also help DJT understand that providing safety equipment is another unnecessary burden upon them.
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@Fighting Sioux
Really, you take an interesting article and inject Trump for no reason.
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I worked for many years in the road paving industry. OSHA rules and common sense dictate wearing hard hats, reflective vests, ear protection, and for some tasks filter masks or respirators. But compliance with was a constant battle. The laborers simply did not think this gear was necessary, did not want to wear it, and played endless cat and mouse games to avoid using it. In that workforce, it was considered anything but macho or high status to wear a hard hat.
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When did -hard hats- become de rigueur for equestrians? I have been wearing one since the '60s. A life saving device!
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We thank the makers and wearers of those hats for building the modern US, and owe them votes for people who'll restore and preserve their scant rights and wages from the strangle of corporate greed.
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The Venerable
Hard Hat! It's a Life Saver,
An Identity.
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When I worked for the U.S Forest Service in the 60's, supervisor types tended to wear hard hats with just a front brim. Those of us who cruised timber and fought forest fires liked full rim hard hats because they kept fire embers and rain from going down your neck!
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I worked in the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in SF in 1960-1 and of course the hardhat was ubiquitous. Some of the older workers still wore old-style hard hats as a sign of their seniority I suppose. It was indeed a symbol of sorts when I got on the train at the end of the day with the office workers (who I eventually joined after college). As to "doughboys," I have always only associated that term with American soldiers, not British. Fun and interesting article.
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Chin straps have been in use for years,some people don't like them but they are safer.Safety glasses are also regulation and will save your eyes. As far as fashion ,if you call work fashion ,that must be it.
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Very insightful article. I never thought of my hard hat as an issue of status or symbol, just trying to keep my head in one piece. But did you know that if you put a hard hat up to your ear you can hear the OSHA?
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@Thiago Clever comment and Thank goodness for OSHA
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@Thiago : Hadn't heard that one!
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This is a fascinating and educational article. I hope the newer design gets adopted quickly across all industries. My dad was a contractor, and when we got rides in his pickup, all his safety gear, hard hats and goggles would be in the truck's cabin. I will never ever underestimate the hard hat after reading some of the reader's stories.
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Worked in the construction business for 35 years until I retired in 1998. And not once did I imagine my hardhat and safety glasses as a status symbol. The only hardhat I ever saw that had some recognition was the Ironworkers. If you wore a brown hat with a full circumference rim, that's an Ironworker.
But like most of us, getting home at night in one piece was all we hoped for.
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What a cool, informative article. I am trying to open and read that paper on social customs and hard hats and not sure if it's free or I have to pay for it to read it. If anyone has an answer, please leave it here.
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I heard from a guy who heard from a guy who heard from a guy that worked on the Boulder Dam (or Hoover Dam, depending perhaps on one’s politics) that workers applied multiple layers of tar on their hats to repel fallout from workers above.
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@Ted Hild Absolutely correct on the application of tar to strengthen the hard hat structure. Brutal working conditions scaling the rock walls and placement of concrete. Lots of impacts. All workers were issued a hardhat and a Crescent wrench. Construction safety by the Six Companies construction consortium building the dam was in it's infancy. Just under a hundred workers died during the dam's construction. If you want to learn about the interesting history of the largest civil project in the world during that depression era, the World of Concrete trade show in Las Vegas provides a very interesting detailed historical presentation of the project each February. A must attend for construction, American history, and safety fans.
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For whom exactly is it a sign of status and power?… men?
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@Dj
Yes, it can be a status symbol for a highly trained craftsman, working in a dangerous occupation, who takes pride in his accomplishments. Is that problematic?
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@TED338
And not just men. You should see the number of women in hard hats working in South Lake Union, Seattle
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@Dj I think you are missing my point. I appreciate and greatly admire the work done by people (both men and women) who do work requiring hardhats. And they should be proud of their work, for sure. But as far as a hardhat conferring power and status, to me, that is no more true than that a Patek Philippe does so.
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I wandered past the construction site of the Liberty Place skyscraper in Philadelphia in the 80's, only to hear a loud BANG from above, looked up and saw a steel bolt tumbling through the air from what must have been 20 stories up.
A construction worker on the ground happened to be right under it. It ricocheted off the top of his hard hat, throwing him to the ground. He got up stunned and cursing and lived to work another day. I can't imagine he'd have survived without his hat.
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@P A Hardhats are a stellar example for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at risky work areas. Sites include construction, mining, oil & gas, chemical processing, foundries, etc. Hard hats are the first element of protection, top - down, with safety glasses, ear plugs, respirators, vests, harnesses, gloves, fire protective shirts, jackets and pants going down to safety shoes and boots. This equipment has saved many lives and prevented many injuries. Thank God for OSHA. Richard Nixon R.I.P. signed the occupational safety and health act (OSHA) into law in 1970. Workplace accidents and deaths have seen a significant decline since this act came into existence. Much additional work needs to be done in workplace safety and health. Kudos and accolades to the past head of OSHA, Dr. David Michaels, for spearheading the new regulations on the control of Crystalline Silica to prevent respiratory illnesses and early deaths. Great article. Safety and wellness is Job # 1 - 24/7/365. Now we have to work on cell phone safety.
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