It's night shift, I'm bored and I am staring at my hard hat thinking, good grief, it must have taken the guy who invented this thing about 10 seconds to produce a working prototype. Having been on the receiving end of dropped equipment and low hanging beams. I would like to see a change in the hard hat to one more dedicated to energy absorbtion to protect my neck and spine. I think a nice inner layer of foam would be a nice touch to get away from those cheap nylon straps. Follow with a shell of poly carbonate for electrical resistance and resistance to penetration. Next layer 1cm of sytrofoam as last line of defense from falling object. 0.5 cm of neopreen for incedental head bumps, and an outer skin of woven kevlar to prevent cutting of the softer materials. I think these would also be safer as regular hard hats must be replaced after being dropped, but never are. The improved type would not suffer from this problem. Vents can be incorporated for cooling in summer conditions.
-- TBK, Dec 08 2002

Hard Hat Heaven http://www.1hardhat...ace-protection.html
These folks may not have produced or distributed a hard hat with your exact specs, but given the variety they offer, it certainly seems that someone has put more than 10 seconds' thought into their designs. (The MSA Vanguard has the polycarbonate shell you required.) [jurist, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

For higher kevlar content, you could go this route. http://www.bakerpre...on.com/bellhel1.htm
Note the URL on this site. [jurist, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Cowboy Hard Hat http://www.hardhats...rd-hats.html#cowboy
Didn't spot this in jurist's link so I added it. Not that I would be impressed by a cowboy hard hat...unless... the wearer was playing "ride the mechanical bull" on a crane-suspended steel I-beam during break. [hollajam, Oct 17 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Great idea...to me it sound sort of like a bike helmet or horseback riding helmet, with some extra features
-- horselover66, Dec 08 2002


Depending on how much you want to spend and how fashionable you wish to appear, it would seem that most of your hard hat design requirements have been met by current manufacturers. For $15 you get a basic plastic shell. For close to $1000, you get state of the art engineering, bragging rights, and probably a few odd looks from your construction buddies. (links)
-- jurist, Dec 08 2002


//regular hard hats must be replaced after being dropped, but never are// Aren't there laws about this?

My point exactly. But if you are owner of the hat, its your responsibility to replace it. Making it incidental drop proof would increase reliability.

I like the hard hat heaven link. I wish my company would stop saying "nothing is more important than health and safety" then turn around and buy safety gear from the lowest bidder.

[Jurist] - I didn't see anything in the HHH that did meet my requirements unfortunately. Cheers
-- TBK, Dec 08 2002


//How many people do you expect will be shooting at you?//
Depends entirely upon where you work, I'd imagine.
-- Pharaoh Mobius, Dec 09 2002


Heh! Spammy churned up another fossil!

it occurs to me that this statement will not mean much after the account of the spammer is deleted.
-- bungston, Nov 14 2007



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