One Year Later: Update on our Commitment to Safety – Embracing the Kask Helmet

Challenging the status quo, in 2017 Gilbane looked at the traditional construction helmet and researched alternatives that could offer additional protection from front, rear and side impacts, as well as accommodate eye protection, hearing protection and the integral chin strap. As noted in a recent Construction Dive article, Gilbane incorporates activities like stretch sessions into the work day, and offers incident- and injury-free orientations for tradespeople as well as First Aid/CPR training for all employees.

For head protection, an OSHA rule requires employers to provide head protection equipment that meets or exceeds the industry standard. Interest in helmets has been steadily growing since The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) stated in 2016 that 25% of construction injuries between 2003 and 2010 resulted from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Because of these discussions, we decided to adopt an innovative new helmet style on our jobsites as a safer alternative to traditional hardhats. We rolled out the use of Kask helmets to our employees as part of their standard PPE and now have nearly 5,200 Kask helmets deployed, an increase of 2,000 since last year this time.

Despite the increased cost, it is the right thing to do for our employees!  Some of the successes include:

• Despite slipping and falling, workers helmets stayed on their head preventing further injury.
• One employee had an object fall on top of his helmet. He barely felt it and his helmet stayed put.

“The Kask helmet internal shell fits comfortable and fits properly while compared to a traditional hard hat and also the chin strap on the Kask helmet provides better protection from falls. Whenever I have a better option to be safe I’ll always go with a better option that’s the gift I can give myself and my family. Nothing is more important than my safety.”