Construction Hard Hat Upgrades: Improving Site Safety

For decades, the construction industry has used the same personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep our workers safe; hard hats, high visibility vests, safety-toed boots, gloves and glasses have been responsible for saving numerous lives and preventing countless injuries. But just as design and construction technology progresses among construction companies, so too should the critical equipment we rely on to protect our people.

Safety helmet upgrades: what’s new and why?

The faithful hardhat has undergone a makeover over the last decade and the transformation is incredible. These updates have created a more comprehensive protection system that ensures workers have 360 degree safety coverage. The new additions to construction hard hats include:

• Hard hat face shields & safety glasses: provide splash, debris, and sun protection for workers’ eyes and faces on site
• Hard hat chin strap: ensures the safety helmet stays in place, no matter the task being completed, the position the worker is in, or should something fall on the worker’s head
• Hard hat earmuffs: protect construction workers from dangerous noise levels from construction equipment and machinery
• Helmet fit suspension system: uses a comfort pad that can be adjusted to ensure a snug fit

While the previously standard hard hats provided adequate protection to satisfy American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards, the new safety helmet style not only offers additional head protection from front, rear and side impacts, but it can also accommodate eye protection, hearing protection and the integral chin strap. These updates have become an integral part of construction headwear that can’t be forgotten or misplaced.

How Gilbane is embracing the new safety helmets

The prospect of improved safety was all we needed at Gilbane to trial this new product. in 2016, our Safety Peer Group decided to adopt Kask helmets on our jobsites as part of our PPE. Gilbane now has over 3,200 Kask Helmets in the field. We chose Kask because of the brand’s specialization in manufacturing heavy duty safety helmets of the highest quality in the fields of skiing, mountaineering and safety. These helmets are safer, lighter and more comfortable than the traditional hard hat, and have drastically improve safety for construction workers. They also have a greater service life and are good for a 10-year period (an upgrade from five years for shell and one year for the inside liner).

Employee response

Since we made the switch to the new style hard hat, our employees don’t want to go back to the old-style hard hat. This technology successfully removes the hazard of the hard hat falling off during a task, and wearing the face shield eliminates the possibility of forgetting to wear eye protection.

The switch from traditional construction hard hats to the new safety helmets has helped our team and numerous other teams improve site safety for their workers and decrease the rates of construction injuries to the head and face.

For more on our commitment to safety, read about our Gilbane Cares philosophy.

This blog was updated October 2021.