Head Protection

Two standards, and the chinstrap is the difference

Safety helmets on this page fall into two groups, and the distinction between them is the most important thing here.

EN 397 industrial helmets are the traditional hard hat. Their chinstrap is designed to release under load, at a low force, so that if the helmet snags on machinery or a projection the helmet comes off rather than strangling the wearer.

EN 12492 style helmets, the ones sold as height safe, use a much stronger retention system that is designed to hold. The helmet stays on the head during a fall or when the wearer is inverted, which is when head protection is needed most.

So a standard hard hat is the wrong helmet for work at height. On a scaffold, a tower, a MEWP or anywhere someone could fall or be inverted, the helmet has to stay put, and an EN 397 strap is built to let go.

Vented or unvented

Vented helmets are considerably cooler and more comfortable through a summer, and they are not suitable for electrical work.

The vents are openings, and an opening is a path for contact or for molten material. Where there is any electrical risk, or hot work overhead, specify an unvented helmet. Helmets with electrical insulation performance are tested and marked separately, and a helmet without that marking is not insulating regardless of what it is made of.

Adjustment, and why rotor systems win

A helmet only works if it stays where it was put, and that comes down to the harness.

Manual slip adjustment is cheaper and gets set once, usually badly, and never checked again. A rotor or ratchet wheel can be adjusted one-handed while wearing the helmet, which means people actually tighten it. On a shared or pooled helmet it is worth the extra outright.

Fit the harness so the helmet sits level rather than tipped back. A helmet worn on the back of the head leaves the forehead exposed and is the most common way of wearing one incorrectly.

Visors, accessories and adaptors

Helmets with retractable visors combine eye and face protection with the helmet, so there is one thing to put on and nothing to leave in the van.

Accessory slots take clip-on ear defenders and face shields. Where an existing helmet lacks them, an adaptor adds the mounting. Check that any combination is approved together, because a defender clipped to an incompatible helmet compromises both.

Lifespan, and what shortens it

Helmets have a manufacture date moulded into the shell and a working life that starts from it, not from the day it came out of the box.

Replace a helmet after any significant impact, even if it looks undamaged, because the shell works by deforming. Retire one that is cracked, chalky, faded or brittle.

Two habits do quiet damage: solvents, including some marker pens and adhesives, which attack the shell, and storing helmets on a parcel shelf or a dashboard, where sunlight degrades them in months.

For eye and face protection, see PPE and workwear.