The authoritative response from the Ministry of Emergency Management: Hard hats that have expired must be scrapped.

The national standard clearly stipulates the mandatory scrapping period. Failure to fasten the chin strap is equivalent to not wearing it. Enterprises that violate this rule can face a maximum fine of 500,000 yuan.

In recent years, incidents of work-related deaths caused by expired, damaged, or improperly worn hard hats have been frequent. Many lives vanished in an instant, leaving families with endless grief and sending a heavy warning to enterprises and society. Regarding the long-standing and unresolved key issue of "whether hard hats that have reached the expiration date and still have a good appearance can be reused" that enterprises and workers are concerned about, the Policy and Regulation Department of the Ministry of Emergency Management made an authoritative and instructive official reply on the public message platform: According to the mandatory national standard GB 2811-2019 "Head Protection - hard hats", after a hard hats reaches the manufacturer's specified mandatory scrap deadline, regardless of whether the appearance is intact or how new it looks, it must be scrapped and must not be used again.

This resounding reply originated from an official response on the public message platform of the Ministry of Emergency Management on June 28, 2021. At that time, a frontline enterprise safety administrator, deeply puzzled, mentioned in the consultation that depending on the material, the usage period of hard hats generally ranges from 30 months to 60 months. But if the appearance is still intact after the expiration date, can it still be used? Are there relevant national standard provisions as a basis? The Policy and Regulation Department of the Ministry of Emergency Management promptly gave a clear response, citing the core provisions of GB 2811-2019, Article 7.2 and Article 7.3, completely ending the controversy that has long troubled countless grassroots enterprises and safety managers, providing solid regulatory support for the full life cycle management of safety helmets.

The validity period of hard hats is divided by material, with a maximum of no more than three and a half years.

According to strict regulations of national standards and relevant selection specifications, the validity period of hard hats is not uniform. It is calculated from the date of product manufacture, and different materials have different upper limits for usage periods. Enterprises and users must strictly abide by:

Plant branch weaving caps: The usage period does not exceed 2 years. Such hard hats are often seen in specific traditional working scenarios, with natural materials but relatively limited durability.

Plastic caps, paper glue caps: The usage period does not exceed 2 and a half years (30 months). This is one of the most common types currently available on the market, widely used in construction, manufacturing, and other industries.

Glass fiber (vinyl steel) caps, rubber caps: The usage period does not exceed 3 and a half years. These hard hats usually have higher strength and weather resistance and are often used in high-risk environments such as metallurgy and mining.

What all users should be highly vigilant about is that even if a hard hats has never experienced any impact and has a surface as clean as new, as long as it exceeds the usage period clearly indicated by the manufacturer on the permanent marking, the material's aging resistance cannot guarantee the expected protective function. The Ministry of Emergency Management emphasized in the reply that the material's aging resistance should not be lower than the usage period indicated by the product marking. Normal-used hard hats should not fail the protective function due to material reasons during their usage period.

In other words, the physical performance of an expired hard hats has gradually deteriorated without the user's awareness. It may seem sturdy and intact, but it has already become vulnerable. When facing a sudden impact from falling objects, it may not be able to effectively absorb and disperse the impact force, thus leading to disastrous consequences.

How to read the production date? The brim injection molding hides a "code"

Many frontline workers and even full-time safety administrators have reported that they don't know where to check the production date of their hard hats and how to calculate the scrap date. The article provides an intuitive and easy-to-operate identification method: The inner side of the hard hats usually has a ring-shaped identification formed by injection molding, with numbers 1 to 12 (representing each month of the year) marked on the outside, the middle two digits represent the year, and the arrow in the center points to which month, which is the month when the product was manufactured. For instance, if the arrow points to the number "5" and the middle number is "20", it indicates that the production date of this hard hats is May 2020. Combined with the clearly stated shelf life on the inner lining label (such as "30 months" or "3 years"), one can easily calculate the latest scrap date, ensuring one knows when to replace it and doing so at the right time.

Furthermore, according to the strict requirements of GB 2811-2019, the permanent identification of the safety helmet must contain several core pieces of information, all of which are indispensable: it must include the standard number of this standard, the manufacturer's name, the production date (precisely to the year and month), the product name, and any special technical performance (if any). The product description must also make two crucial statements in clear and explicit wording: first, if the hard hats undergoes severe impact, even if there is no obvious damage, it must be replaced immediately; second, unless following the explicit recommendations of the manufacturer, any modification or replacement of accessories will bring unpredictable dangers to the user. These identifications and explanations are not only the legal responsibility of the manufacturer but also the first-hand basis for users to determine whether the hard hats is compliant and usable.