Basic Knowledge of Safety Helmet Use and Management
- The Importance of Safety Helmets – Safety Management – Occupational Safety Section A tragic lesson:
Recently, at a construction site in Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province, a worker was not wearing a safety helmet and a 3-meter-long, thumb-thick steel bar was pierced through his head. The worker was unable to move, his face was pale, and he occasionally let out painful groans. His coworkers beside him looked anxious and helpless.
Which workplaces are prone to head injuries?
It is well known that accidents involving falling objects injuring workers are common in construction, mining, metallurgy, oil exploration, tunnel engineering, and logging. These accidents can easily cause head injuries, ranging from disability to death.
Therefore, personnel working in these types of workplaces must wear safety helmets.
2. Basic knowledge of safety helmets
A helmet is a hat that protects the head from injuries caused by falling objects and other specific factors. It consists of a shell, liner, chin strap, and other accessories.
1) Shell: Composed of the outer shell, visor, brim, and crown band;
2) Liner: The general term for the internal components of the shell, including the headband, sweatband, lining, and cushioning devices;
3）Chin strap: A strap that is fastened to the chin for stability, consisting of a drawstring and locking clip.
The Origin of the Safety Helmet:
The inventor of the world's first civilian safety helmet was none other than Franz Kafka, yes, the same Kafka who wrote *The Metamorphosis*.
In 1908, Kafka worked for a workers' compensation agency and frequently encountered workers with cuts to their limbs and head injuries from falling objects. Could preventative measures be taken? Kafka suddenly had a flash of inspiration: 'The helmets used by ancient warriors in battle could also be used to protect workers!' So, he used the helmet as a prototype and commissioned the creation of the civilian safety helmet.
After Kafka's safety helmet was invented, the number of factory accident deaths each year dropped to below 25 per thousand for the first time.
The protective mechanism of safety helmets
When a worker's head is impacted by a falling object, the helmet shell and liner instantly distribute the impact force across the entire area of the skull. Then, the various parts of the helmet—shell, liner, structure, materials, and cushioning mechanisms (buckles, cords, seams, padding, etc.)—absorb most of the impact force through elastic deformation, plastic deformation, and permissible structural damage. This reduces the final impact force on the worker's head to below 4900N, thus protecting the worker's head from injury or minimizing injury.
Choosing a safety helmet
According to the "Standards for the Provision of Labor Protective Equipment (Trial Implementation)," typical occupations requiring the provision of safety helmets include: foundry workers, electricians, furnace operators, cold-working workers, road construction workers, oil drilling workers, and coal miners, totaling 25 typical occupations.
Each typical occupation has many related occupations; for example, electricians have 32 related occupations, and furnace operators have 145 related occupations. Enterprises should provide safety helmets according to the standards, and workers can also submit their own provision requests based on the regulations.
Safety helmets must be used correctly after selection. When selecting safety helmets, users should ensure they comply with relevant national regulations, have complete markings, and have passed inspection. They should check the helmet's recent inspection report. Different types of helmets should be selected based on different protective purposes. For example, workers in live-line work areas should choose safety helmets with electrical insulation properties and that have passed inspection; workers in low-temperature environments should choose safety helmets with low-temperature protection properties and that have passed inspection. Otherwise, the required protective requirements will not be met.
Safety Helmet Usage Precautions
Before use, inspect the helmet for cracks, dents, unevenness, and wear. Check the liner for integrity and ensure its structure is in good working order. Helmets with obvious defects affecting performance should be discarded immediately to avoid compromising their protective function.
Users must not arbitrarily remove or add accessories to the helmet, as this will affect its original protective performance.
Users must not arbitrarily adjust the liner size, as this directly affects the helmet's protective performance. In the event of a falling object impact, the helmet may fall off due to insecure fit or strike the wearer directly upon impact.
Reminder | Did you know that wearing a helmet without fastening the chin strap can still result in game over?
During grassroots accident investigations, it was discovered that in many fatal accidents, the victims were wearing safety helmets, yet still died from being struck by objects or their heads hitting the ground. The cause, surprisingly, was the failure to fasten the chin strap.
Case: At a construction site, a worker wearing a safety helmet without a chin strap was walking under a frame of hollow bricks lifted by a crane. The reinforced concrete frame crushed the hollow bricks, and a fragment knocked the worker's helmet off, while another fragment struck his head. He died despite being rushed to the hospital.
The *Production Safety Law* stipulates that "production and business entities must provide employees with labor protection equipment that conforms to national or industry standards, and supervise and educate employees to wear and use it according to the rules." The national standard for *Safety Helmets* requires product instructions to state that "to fully exert protective power, the helmet headband must be adjusted according to the head circumference and the chin strap must be tightened." If, during inspections, it is found that a safety helmet is not fastened with the chin strap, the entity can be ordered to immediately eliminate the hazard or eliminate it within a specified time. If the production and business entity refuses to comply, according to the new *Production Safety Law*, Article 99 can be applied, ordering the entity to suspend production and business operations for rectification, and imposing a fine of between 100,000 and 500,000 yuan. The directly responsible supervisors and other directly responsible personnel can be fined between 20,000 and 50,000 yuan.
Therefore, wearers must ensure that the safety helmet is worn correctly and securely, without shaking, and that the chin strap is tightened and the headband adjusted to prevent the helmet from falling off.
Safety Helmet Usage Precautions
1) Before use, carefully inspect the safety helmet for cracks, dents, unevenness, and wear (including checking the liner). If the helmet has obvious defects affecting its performance, it should be discarded immediately. Never use a defective helmet, as this will compromise its protective function. Before using a high-voltage proximity alarm helmet, check that its sound system is functioning properly.
2) Do not arbitrarily disassemble or add accessories to the safety helmet, as this may affect its original protective performance.