Safety has always been a very important issue in all industrial activities, especially construction. It is after all, not a run-of-the-mill office job and requires some precautionary measures. The more prepared the Labourers/workers are, the less chance for accidents and injuries at a construction site. The head is the only organ of the human body that is totally encased in bone. This by decree of nature states the importance of protecting a very vital functioning component of our body, the brain. Hard hats or Safety helmets act as the first line of defense against head injury, but they only work when they are worn correctly. Thus, it’s safe to say safety Helmets save lives and reduce the risk of brain injury.

Most head injuries can be avoided if the proper head protection is selected, used and maintained. As anyone who has visited a construction site can attest upon entering a job site that some workers don’t quite follow signs that require them to put on safety helmets or hard hats. This can be for any number of reasons such as comfort level mismatch, or simple neglect or disregard for safety helmets due to misinformation. According to reports published in several journals there’s a stern mention of most instances where head injuries occurred, and employers did not actually require workers to wear head protection. Henceforth, wherever plausible, an employer should consider it feasible to implement engineering or administrative controls to minimize or eliminate exposure to the problem. If the employer feels a dearth of quality available options they can always buy safety helmets online .

Here are some points that further list out the benefits of wearing safety helmets at work.

#1. Protection against head injuries

Safety helmets are designed to protect the head against falling objects and the side of the head, eyes, and neck from any untoward impacts, bumps, scrapes, and electrical exposure, etc. Wearing a safety helmet is a mandatory requirement that should be followed by all employers who should provide their workers with hard hats/safety helmets and fully ensure that they wear them. Since on an average hundreds of workers per year suffer from fatal head injuries, hard hats are crucial features of work site safety.

#2. Industrial protection

There are industrial workplaces where the risks posed by head injuries are so overwhelming that the common industrial safety helmets compliant are not suffice to provide a satisfactory degree of protection. For instance, in industry sectors such as mining and construction. In such cases high performance industrial safety helmets should be provided to the employees that also comprise of a shell and a headband with good shock absorption properties and protection against lateral shock. They should also consist of protective padding that absorbs the energy from the impact and therefore reduces the forces transmitted onto the user’s head. This padding is usually made up of foams with elements such as polyurethane.

#3. Colours and Stickers for identification

Oftentimes safety helmets come in various colours that signify different roles to the wearers on construction sites. These colour designations vary from company to company. Usually, a number of companies, employees of the same company may wear the same colour hat when they are a part of large projects. Mostly, supervisors are not familiar with all workers on a construction site. Thus, stickers, labels and markers are used to mark safety helmets so that important information can be shared and transmitted without any delays and glitches. As a result, stickers with company logos are very commonplace in construction sites.

White – Site managers, foremen, engineers or supervisors usually wear white hats on site.

Yellow – Yellow is the colour for general labourers and earth moving operators.

Blue – Carpenters and other technical operators including electricians will normally wear blue hard hats, while orange is worn by road crews.

Green – Green often signifies a safety inspector but can also be used by new workers on the site or probationary staff.

Orange – Lifting operatives, Banksman slingers / signalers or traffic marshals but mainly lifting operatives wear orange hard hats so the crane operator can pick them out from other operatives

Red – Fire Marshal’s usually wear red hard hats complete with sticker (“Fire Marshal”).

Grey – Grey is the colour often worn by site visitors.

Lastly, verified and highly reliable statistical data entailing occupational accidents shows that the most common causes of head injuries are impacts from falling objects and impacts against sharp and hard items. Injuries caused by such mechanical incidents may brutally affect skin on the head, skull, brain and neck or even the spinal cord at times. Always wear a safety helmet to ensure full protection and remember, in extreme cases these injuries may lead to permanent disability or even death causing irreparable loss and agony to you and your loved ones.

For a variety of quality Industrial Safety helmets and advice on how to select, use and maintain a Safety helmet, log in to www.nairobisafetyshop.org. Nairobi Safety Shop is the largest one stop safety shop in Africa.

Safety is both an individual and collective responsibility that starts with Me, You, All of Us. Please click here to watch my safety videos.