Confused About Head Protection Standards?
If you’re confused about “climber’s helmets” versus hard hats, you’re not alone.
Over the past year, your customers have probably asked you, “Do you offer climber’s style helmets?”
THE PROBLEM: The different standards in different parts of the world have led to confusion over what kind of hard hat or climber’s helmet an end-user should select.
Also, OSHA does not recognize the European hard hat standards, only the US ANSI standard.
WHY IT MATTERS: Some US contractors are using a mix of American and European standards for their head protection specifications. This is dangerous because Europe's standards for head protection are different from the U.S. standards.
The U.S. standard looks at the end performance result versus a European approach to how a manufacturer achieves that end result.
Combining elements of European and American head protection standards leads to conflicting requirements.
ISEA's (Industrial Safety Equipment Association) Head Protection Product Group is updating the hard hat standard and hope to resolve the confusion caused by different global standards.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS ISSUE? Visit and share this link to the ISEA article which covers:
How this confusion began regarding hard hats vs safety helmets
When ISEA is publishing an updated hard hat standard
How and why the European head protection standard is different from the US standard
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