[HN Gopher] How a new hard hat technology can protect workers be...
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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.
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