[HN Gopher] How a new hard hat technology can protect workers be... ___________________________________________________________________ How a new hard hat technology can protect workers better from concussion Author : mooreds Score : 47 points Date : 2022-09-09 14:44 UTC (8 hours ago) (HTM) web link (text.npr.org) (TXT) w3m dump (text.npr.org) | aaron695 wrote: | CapitalistCartr wrote: | An important element of hardhats on site is cultural. If you're a | supervisor, you wear the brown phenolic one. $80-100, but you | walk into a meeting, and everyone at the table sets one down. | | If you're an electrician, a Klein one is a desirable choice. With | the right stickers on it, such as "Electrician, king of trades". | | And so on. What hardhat you wear matters, completely outside of | safety. | er4hn wrote: | Are there engineering differences between the hats that make | them more suited for a particular trade? Or is this an | aesthetics thing? | CapitalistCartr wrote: | As far as I can tell, any $50+ hat protects equally well. | Some breathe better, or have built-in headlamp. | amelius wrote: | What does rotation have to do with it? | | Isn't the situation like an egg in a jar filled with water? | | Would a sudden rotation of the jar damage the egg? | harvey9 wrote: | Do you really imagine the brain in the skull is analogous to an | egg in a jar with respect to rotation? | amelius wrote: | What would you compare it to? | anonAndOn wrote: | Ever watch boxing? You can smash a guy's face in, break the | nose and even the ocular cavity without losing consciousness. | But hit the jaw hard enough from the side to whip the head | around and they'll drop like a sack of potatoes. | VygmraMGVl wrote: | FTA: | | >You can shake an egg forcefully without disrupting the | contents. But experiments show that if you spin one hard | enough, the yoke inside will rupture even though the shell | remains intact. | upofadown wrote: | So do typical impacts on hard hats cause head rotation? | aidenn0 wrote: | Any impact not normal to the surface causes some rotation. A | glancing blow may be mostly rotational force. | xen2xen1 wrote: | Sounds like something the NFL should fund. | guywithahat wrote: | These are single use and frankly I wonder if we're reading an | add for the technology licensing company | neves wrote: | Is this the popular MIPS feature of bike helmets? | | https://helmets.org/mips.htm | https://helmets.org/journals.htm#helmets | gremlinsinc wrote: | Sounds like those 'drop and egg from 2 stories without it | cracking' science class experiments finally paid off. | guywithahat wrote: | They use wavecel in mountain biking! It, along with mips, are the | dominant technologies used in bikes where mips has a larger | spread of implementation and wavecel is more solidly in the | middle. | | If you scroll to the bottom of this article you can see a | comparison between traditional EPS, MIPS, and WaveCel helmets and | excluding the weird airbag helmet the best MIPS helmets tend to | do the best, but WaveCel tend to be in the middle of the MIPS | pack. https://thomashansen.xyz/blog/best-helmets.html Interesting | to see them moving into construction as well | altairprime wrote: | Corrected link with image halfway down page showing the new hard | hat interior design: https://www.npr.org/sections/health- | shots/2022/09/09/1121903... | | Direct link to that image (webp?): | https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/09/08/hat-2_wide-6ae40... | | WaveCel, the manufacturer highlighted by NPR, has a detail page | about their technology: https://wavecel.com/technology/ | | They published a Biomechanics paper about this: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-021-02723-0 | blahyawnblah wrote: | Kind of like MIPS helmets? | williamscales wrote: | Yes, the article does mention this. | altairprime wrote: | Previously on HN (213 comments): | | _Bontrager's WaveCel material more effective at preventing | concussions than MIPS_ (2019) | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20825502 | | The most valuable paragraph I found there to keep in mind | when considering around WaveCel and/or MIPS is: | | > _So far it does seem that measuring impacts at an angle | matches real world brain damages better than the older | standards of measuring dead-on impacts. That 's what | "rotational acceleration" means. Acceleration is just another | word for impact. It doesn't mean your skull should rotate | freely._ | | (I have no stance on MIPS or WaveCel beyond that.) | soperj wrote: | I don't think anyone in the industry is going to buy a $200 hard | hat. | dieselgate wrote: | I worked at HD Supply hardware for a bit - it's a commercial | oriented hardware store where prices aren't even posted on the | items. PPE is really expensive but companies just buy it anyway | - because it's in the budget. A "conventional" | fiberglass/carbon fiber hard hat is already like $150. Cheaper | than a claim I'm sure. | | My only thing is I personally think eye and ear protection may | be more "high impact" PPE to focus on. Surely hard hats are | important but it's less of a low hanging fruit than eye/ear - | ymmv | | Edit: also steel shank shoes/boots to prevent penetration from | a nail | Teever wrote: | But they'll buy $200 boots? | | People will buy whatever they're mandated to buy. | hugey010 wrote: | I think it's whatever their company pays for! If this hard | hat means lower insurance costs for the company then it's | just a math problem. | quickthrowman wrote: | Tradespeople generally receive PPE from their employer, | safety procurement people will be the ones making the | purchasing decision about something like this. I wouldn't do | business with a contractor that doesn't provide PPE to their | employees. | | A skilled tradesperson costs about $100/hr in my area, $200 | isn't a lot of money when it comes to safety. Fall harnesses | are hundreds of dollars, arc flash suits are thousands of | dollars. | | It is about 10x the cost of a regular hard hat, but lower | insurance premiums could make up the $180 difference over | time. | tempestn wrote: | Could also be good for hiring if people see you investing | in safety. I know I'd rather work for the company that's | willing to spend a bit more on the safest equipment. | mooreds wrote: | > "If I have one goal in the next few years, it's to bring the | price down," Bottlang says. | wnevets wrote: | Based on what? If the helmets don't look goofy (e.g. the NFL | Guardian Caps), are bright red and have the Milwaukee logo on | them construction folks will wait in line to pay that much for | a helmet. | bombcar wrote: | Why? Someone's buying $100 ones: | https://www.toolup.com/Milwaukee-48-73-1300-White-Vented-Hel... | | And people pay for Sawstops. | | It's harder to get them to wear them than to buy them. | orwin wrote: | If it works, there will be studies that proves it, EU will make | it mandatory for companies to buy this kind of hat for their | workers, the price will fall. | jimmygrapes wrote: | I cannot think of many things that reduce in price once | government mandates their purchase. Seat belts maybe? | Although I can't find historical price information on those | prior to being mandated. | chmod775 wrote: | If the price for hard hats was $10k a piece, companies would | still buy/rent them for their workers. | | They're a one-time fee insurance against something that is both | expensive and decently likely to happen. | | It's almost impossible to work in construction for even a few | years without getting one thing or the other dropped on your | head. Screws, tools, or rocky substances kicked loose by | someone navigating scaffolding above you may not usually be | fatal, but they'd probably hurt and can take a worker out of | commission for a time. | csours wrote: | A lot of commercial construction is union represented. Unions | will get the best safety equipment for their members. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-09-09 23:01 UTC)