FEATURE
SOFTENING THE BLOW
Brain protection company MIPS is teaming up with European safety helmet manufacturers to incorporate their brain protection system into hard hats. CEO Max Strandwitz explains how the Swedish company plans to improve the head protection of workers, reduce accident frequency rates and make construction sites safer.
Despite the widespread and mostly mandatory use of hard hats, construction workers are still at risk for severe head injuries including concussion. They can suffer concussions from the impact force from a fall, slip or trip as well as a result of being knocked in the head by falling tools or debris or impact with heavy machinery.
From our research, we know that in the majority of cases our head hits the ground at an angle when we fall, slip or trip, as well as when we are knocked on the head by falling tools or debris. Concussions are typical phenomena that can occur following such impacts. This is because an angled impact can cause rotational motion to the head, which can create a tearing injury to the brain tissue.
HSE found that in 2019, 25% of the non-fatal injuries were from slips trips or falls on the same level; 18% from falls from height and a further 12% were caused by moving objects, including flying or falling objects – all of which, on a busy construction site, can increase the severity of the injury. Around 2.4% of workers in the sector suffered an injury, and this is statistically significantly higher than the ‘all industry’ rate.
The economic cost of these workplace injuries was estimated to be half a billion pounds and accounted for just under half a million working days lost. It is also worth noting that employers substantially under- report these non-fatal injuries: current levels of overall
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employer reporting of RIDDOR defined non-fatal injuries to employees is estimated at around a half; and the reporting of injuries to the self-employed a much lower proportion. When head injuries occur as the result of an accident on site, the consequences can be life changing and devastating.
MIPS is a brain protection system that helmet manufacturers incorporate into their hard hats to reduce rotational motion caused by an oblique impact from a fall or getting hit by a falling object. The rotational motion caused by an angled impact can cause strain to the brain tissue, which may lead to severe brain injuries and is the most likely cause of concussion. MIPS reduces that motion by adding protection to absorb and redirect forces that could otherwise be transmitted to the brain.
Conventional hard hats protect against injuries such as skull fractures, but do not reduce rotational motion enough. This is because our brain is about six to seven times more susceptible to rotational motion than to linear impacts. The MIPS layer inside the helmet ensures that the head can slide 10-15mm inside the helmet in any direction. This can reduce rotational motion acting on the brain, as independent tests have shown.
Over the next few months, MIPS plans to work with some of the leading above-the-neck PPE manufacturers to understand the specific impact scenarios that are more
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