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Yesterday, we looked at how to identify workplace hazards requiring hard hat use and how to select hard hats that protect against both top and side impacts and penetration. Today, we’ll look at how to select a hard hat for electrical resistance and a few other hard hat features that may surprise you.
Insulate Workers with Hard Hats
If your workers need protection from electrical shock and burns, select a hard hat from the appropriate electrical class. Hard hats are classified based on their electrical protective qualities according to the following parameters:
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- Class G (General) helmets provide electrical protection from low-voltage conductors carrying up to 2,200 volts.
- Class E (Electrical) helmets provide electrical protection from high-voltage conductors carrying up to 20,000 volts.
- Class C (Conductive) helmets provide impact and penetration resistance but should not be used around electrical hazards. They are usually made of aluminum, which conducts electricity.
Other Shocking Hard Hat Choices
Electrical and impact resistance may not be the only criteria you want to consider when selecting a hard hat. You can now, under the 2009 revisions to the ANSI standard, select hard hats for certain uses and working conditions that are only indirectly related to their impact-protection performance. You can now select a hat that is tested and approved for:
- Reverse donning. There have always been workers who wear their hard hats backward. They have long been discouraged from doing so because, until recently, the hats were not designed and tested to wear backward. However, some hard hats are now tested both ways; hats that pass all testing requirements whether they are worn frontward or backward carry a “reverse donning arrow” symbol and can be worn either way.
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- Low temperature helmets. Some helmets are now tested at temperatures of -22 degrees Fahrenheit; these helmets will be marked with an “LT” to indicate that they pass all testing requirements at this temperature.
- High-visibility helmets. For workers who need high-visibility gear, hard hats are available that meet all testing requirements for high-visibility colors and luminescence. These hats will be marked with an “HV.”
It shouldn’t come as a shock to you that Safety.BLR.com® has even more resources you can use to protect your workers from impact and electrical hazards. Check it out!