How a new hard hat technology can protect workers better from concussion
text.npr.org
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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
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.)
But after I bought it I recall seeing articles that undermined the claims. I know they have one or two good papers showing efficacy, but I think it's not quite settled science at this point.
As far as I can tell it’s just an extra layer of thin plastic that sits, unattached, under the expanded foam.
The idea being that it slides and stops the helmet gripping you head.
I’ve often wondered, how much of the same feature would be achieved with just a cycling cap under the helmet?
I’m not sure there was a huge premium for getting MIPS so I guess I’m happy to have it. It certainly doesn’t hurt.
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
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.
https://helmets.org/mips.htm https://helmets.org/journals.htm#helmets
Isn't the situation like an egg in a jar filled with water?
Would a sudden rotation of the jar damage the egg?
>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.
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
According to TFA:
> WaveCel hard hats cost $169 to $189, which is several times the amount for a standard hard hat and more than many premium models, including some with MIPS technology.
Edit: “conventional” as being without any newer technology like wavecel
And people pay for Sawstops.
It’s harder to get them to wear them than to buy them.
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.
People will buy whatever they're mandated to buy.
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.
You do whatever you want to do with your own safety. Feel free to protect yourself anyway you like or don’t like while you are working on your own. Nobody is going to stop you.
Grab a sledgehammer and start “remodelling” your kitchen naked if you want. Stick your wet fingers into live voltage or weld with a safety squint. Nobody offical is going to show up to stop you. Not in the USA, not in the EU.
The regulations are there to make sure the tradespeople you might hire get reasonable protections. That people employed can expect to go home healthy and safe at the end of their workday.
Also on the flip side if you ever get hired to do some honest work you won’t get maimed because your employer choose to skimp on your protection to have more money they can spend on a marble kitchen countertop.
I mean, any decent company should do that for their workers, and maybe they would've without regulations, but do you expect companies to always do the decent thing?