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Hard Hats - The Story Of Head Safety
Hard hats are common place nowadays; from construction sites to factories, they adorn the heads of workers throughout all ranks. Although not much to look at they offer invaluable protection. They haven’t always been so common within the work place though, this is a brief history of the hard hat and how it has evolved over time.
“Hard-Boiled Hat”
It is thought that Franz Kafka while working at the Worker’s accident Insurance Institute developed the idea. Although interesting, it is widely unproven. However, a company based out of California at the time was clearing the path for hard hat development. It was the Bullard Company with over 20 years in the safety field that invented the “Hard-Boiled Hat”. This is widely thought to be the first step in the development of the hard hat.
The First Hard Hat
Although the concept of a hard hat was not completely nonexistent they were mostly featured in military combat. The Bullard Company did use leather protective hats on their sites to protect workers. That all changed when E.W. Bullard returned home from World War I with his steel helmet. After his arrival home in 1919 the company soon patented the “Hard-Boiled Hat”. Different from its leather prototype this hat featured steamed canvas, black paint, and glue.
The “Brodie” Helmet
After the Hard Boiled Hat, the United States Navy then commissioned Bullard to come up with a shipyard protective hat to protect workers from falling debris. Soon after his development of the shipyard hat Bullard thought up an internal suspension system that would in turn provide a more effective protective hat. The inspiration for these new more effective hats was the military M1917 “Brodie” helmet.
Hard Hat Laws
Even with the constant revamping of the hard hat they still weren’t required at construction sites. Until 1933, only one other site had mandated the use of safety hats. When construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge all workers were required to wear hard hats, only the second ever site to require such a precaution. The first site was the Hoover Dam project which began in 1931. By this time Bullard was working on a hardhat design that would protect those workers who dealt with sandblasting. This design entailed a hard hat with a face covering that allowed for a window with a view and a hose for air from an air compressor.
Materials
Evolution of the hard hat really sped up from there, next aluminum became the main component except in electrical pursuits and then fiberglass was introduced in the 1940’s. By the 1950’s thermoplastics had made their way into the hard hat safety industry. Most hats today are made from HDPE also known as high density polyethylene which is a type of thermoplastic.
Finally in 1997, ANSI allowed the development of ventilated hardhats to keep the workers cool while working. Now, all sorts of accessories can be added, walkie talkies, sweat rags, pagers, cameras, sun visors, the list is endless. Today, workers are protected on the job site and also have access to important safety clothing and equipment while working, all due to the efforts of a few men who wanted to ensure the safety of construction workers.
OCCUPY NIGERIA-CANADA, SAT. 14 JEN 2012 DOWN TOWN TORONTO
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