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PPE
More than just a hard hat W
hen it comes to personal protective equipment (PPE), hard hats are sometimes seen as a box ticking exercise. However, it is
important to provide workers with appropriate PPE for their specific requirements. Effectively reviewing what additional helmet enhancements would help to protect the workers and improve their productivity could seriously up your PPE compliance on a day-to-day basis. There are a lot of hard hat variances
and configurations, and selecting the appropriate helmet is just the beginning when it comes to head protection. There are a wide range of accessories and branding options available, which allows a hard hat to be adapted to enhance functionality for a range of different scenarios. In this article, MSA Safety suggests a
three-step process in selecting, accessorising, and branding an appropriate hard hat for your specific requirements.
Step 1: chooSing the AppropriAte helmet
Firstly, consider whether it is important that your safety helmet is CE marked, and meets the standards required for your specific working environments. Primarily, there are two key industry standards to be aware of:
#1 - EN 397: industrial safety helmets
EN 397 is concerned with ensuring protection against falling objects and the consequences thereof, such as brain damage and skull fracture. To achieve this
12 WInter 2023 | IndustrIal coMplIance
certification, key performance requirements include adequate shock absorption, penetration resistance, flame resistance and chin strap anchorage (whereby the chin strap will release at a minimum of 150N and maximum of 250N).
#2 - EN 50365: electrically insulated helmets
EN 50365 is concerned with ensuring protection against electric shocks and dangerous electric currents passing through the head. This is typically an additional standard required for safety helmets when working on low voltage live electrical installations up to 1,000V A.C. Therefore, helmets in this bracket need to comply with both EN 397 and EN 50365.
Step 2: AppropriAte AcceSSorieS you might conSider
Once you have considered your working environment, and acquired a helmet that will best meet those regulatory requirements, you can begin to optimise your PPE by applying accessories you deem appropriate. Hard hats should not hinder, but help,
workers by empowering them at work and allowing them to focus on the job at hand. To achieve this, MSA Safety aims to deliver hard hats that are comfortable to wear and complementary to specific jobs, whilst enhancing safety performance.
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