
The Evolution of the Hard Hat - johnny313
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/business/hard-hat-history.html
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agurk
This article starts in 1919 but I would assume that wearing hats to protect
one's head mechanically (opposed to thermally) has been a tradition since hats
were invented. While the hat mentioned in the article is a definite milestone,
I wouldn't say it's the starting point for protective hats.

Checking wikipedia I see bowler hats were first created in 1849, and from the
article[0]:

[the manufacturers had] been commissioned by a customer to design a close-
fitting, low-crowned hat to protect gamekeepers from low-hanging branches
while on horseback at Holkham Hall

A traditional bowler is a very sturdy piece of equipment and I could believe
the afforded good protection for their day and is very much in the spirit of a
modern hard hat.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat)

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cesis
And firefighters definitely used helmets in 19th century

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52-6F-62
Probably more for defense against attacks from rival companies than dangerous
environments haha

(off topic: [http://spacing.ca/toronto/2012/10/02/the-toronto-circus-
riot...](http://spacing.ca/toronto/2012/10/02/the-toronto-circus-riot-
of-1855-the-day-the-clowns-picked-the-wrong-toronto-brothel/))

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rwmurrayVT
I am just waiting for the day I can get my name painted on my hardhat at the
shipyard. It certainly is a status symbol here. It's a telltale sign that
someone isn't experienced when they're walking around with an undamaged hard
hat. It's a telltale sign they might be too risky when they walk around
looking like they went through a tornado!

Edit: Also every one always complains about the NYT paywall, but it's $5 a
month for a digital only subscription. I can't help but think I read more than
enough content to get value.

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NikolaeVarius
Aren't you supposed to replace a hardhat after any damage?

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Doxin
Sure, but no one is replacing their hard hat after having bonked their head
lightly on a door frame. Scuffs and light marking shouldn't affect the
functioning of the hard hat but still be a rough indicator of job-site
experience -- until it gets replaced in a more serious and you start over of
course, but thats not really a bad thing either in my opinion.

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rpmisms
One more part of this is the original British Police.

They had a requirement that any applicants be at least 5'9", and in order to
cut an even more imposing figure, they wore tough Beaver Top Hats, which
served a dual purpose: raising the height of any officer to at least 6 feet,
and to protect their heads against blows from unhappy citizens. Police in the
UK have worn some form of head protection ever since.

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ncmncm
The article neglects to mention that protection against head trauma was the
whole original purpose of top hats. They were worn by coach drivers, and then
fox hunters took them up (along with the split coat tails, thence to become
formal wear, ultimately), for the same purpose. Being thrown from a horse or
overturned wagon, or struck by a low-hanging branch, was a real hazard in both
cases.

As noted elsewhere, London bobbies subsequently adopted them, too, but they
had to exist first.

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dmckeon
Always fun to watch video footage of factories, construction sites, etc., and
pick out who is who by hat color, whether suspension system has been adjusted
or not, and what stickers may show up. In the US, yellow is often entry-level,
white is usually supervisor or VIP visitor, but look for wear, scuffing, and
dirt to be sure.

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chrisdhoover
Where does this idea come from? A lifetime of construction work and I have
never seen color coding of hard hats. You wear what was given to you. The
company purchasing agent isn’t picking multiple colors to differentiate
people, they are buying a single color in bulk, or you wear a hat you buy and
the shop you buy from has at most 2 choices.

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baud147258
Funny how simple things become status symbols in some place but not in others.
Here in France, a hard hat is just a PPE for use in the construction industry,
not any kind of status symbol. Perhaps those categories of workers and their
members are perceived differently on the two side of the Atlantic?

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ghaff
When I wore hard hats on job sites stickers from suppliers were a big thing.
So not sure status symbol but definitely personalization thing. Not much
different from developer laptops today.

Though the idea is older. There was a maybe 99% invisible ep on this in the
context of miners as I recall.

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frogpelt
Related video showing why you should always wear a hard hat on a construction
site:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbOJhaZRmI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufbOJhaZRmI)

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neonate
[http://archive.is/h6gha](http://archive.is/h6gha)

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chrisseaton
I am absolutely sure people had hard hats for work prior to 1919. Pith hats,
for example.

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cafard
For fighting, certainly, but for labor? You may well be correct, I just don't
know.

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chrisseaton
Putting out fires for example? They used rigid leather hats in the 1800s that
sound like they have exactly the same construction.

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hardhatsqas
I've always wondered: is a motorcycle helmet always more protective than a
hard hat, or are there cases where a hard hat protects better?

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dsfyu404ed
Motorcycle helmet is fixed to your head whereas a hard hat is not. In many
situations an impact sends the hard hat flying with minimal kinetic energy
imparted on the former occupant. In those cases a motorcycle helmet would be
worse because the wearer's head would move around more making neck injury more
likely.

For top of the head impacts they're likely close to equal since the strap
system in a hard hat is pretty damn optimized for that use case.

For repeated impact (fairly rare on the job site vs the default in motorcycle
crashes) the motorcycle helmet is obviously superior and it has superior
coverage.

This is kind of an apples to oranges comparison. Wearing a motorcycle helmet
(or any helmet that covers the ears) massively reduces situational awareness
and wearing one 8+hr/day for the length of one's career would likely not be
good for ones neck. It is not the right tool for the hard hat's job (and vise
versa).

Disclaimer: Not a helmet engineer.

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dharmab
The best data we have on mtotocycle injuries shows that about one third of
motorcycle head hits are in the chin area. It's a totally different hazard
model.

See the Hurt Report for details.

