Hard Hat safety is vital for head protection in field engineering and across many sectors, both work and leisure. Chris Tidy has a background in engineering, construction and training, and is using his experience to champion hard hat safety. His passion led him to found Hard Hat Awareness Week (HHAW). This year it is taking place from 9th – 15th June.

The Hard Hat Safety Champion – meet Chris Tidy

Background

What did you want to be when you were a child? Did any of your childhood interests lead to your career choices?

I didn’t really have any aspirations to follow any particular career path when I was younger.
I came from a single parent family living on a council estate in Bexleyheath, Kent where money was scarce, and times were hard. I just knew that I had to get a job as soon as possible to help my mum pay for things.

I worked from the age of about nine years old as a milk boy and did that right up until I got my first full time job at sixteen working in an ironmongery store in Erith, Kent.
I was really keen on sport and played a lot of football, rugby and participated in athletic tournaments so I guess if anything I would have loved to have done that. I worked at the ironmongery store for about two years before I got a job in the construction sector.

Have you always been interested in how things, including the human body, work? Can you give an example?

Absolutely, before starting my first full time job I was always fascinated with how things worked particularly electronic items. I was always fixing things around the house mainly because we could not afford to buy new ones when they went wrong. From TVs to vacuum cleaners, you name it and I had tried to repair it. I enjoyed taking things apart methodically and putting them back together again after I had completed the repair; there was something really satisfying about it.

I guess my fascination with how the human body reacts from a head impact stems from that. I remember buying my first car for £320, a Datsun Violet 160J, and setting about changing the brake pads, oil filter etc myself using my trusted Haynes Manual as a guide. I really enjoyed the satisfaction of doing something myself.

Engineering

You studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Why did you decide on this particular subject? Did anyone influence you?
Deciding on this subject really stemmed from my love of repairing electrical items and fault-finding electrical issues on my car. No one really influenced me, it was purely driven by my love of making things work again.
I was fascinated with circuit boards and how they worked: you know all that resistor colour coding stuff and capacitors. This is probably why I become involved in standards. I’m a member of PEL/78 ‘Tools for live working’ today and partially responsible for the recent revision of EN50365 ‘Electrically insulating helmets’.

Inventions

Which invention has impressed you the most?
Wow! Great question.
Lots of inventions have impressed me but I guess I would have to default to head protection and hard hat safety to answer that question.

Probably one of the greatest inventions recently in the world of head protection is Mips (Multi-directional Impact Protection system). This was invented in Sweden by people who had dedicated their lives to understanding the complex relationship between brain injuries and helmet construction. In 2007 the first helmet with a Mips safety system was born and it’s been protecting people’s lives ever since. The nicest thing about this is the company never publicise the people’s lives they have saved with their technology. They just keep on trying to push the boundaries to make people safer.

Transferable skills

With hindsight looking back at your career, which skills have you taken with you from each role? (hard and soft)
Firstly, from a hard skill perspective, definitely my technical knowledge and ability to understand technical aspects of head injury and their mechanisms as well as helping me to understand testing and certification of those products. From a soft perspective my career has always been about people. Right back from my days as a milk boy to now I have always been fascinated by people. Our behaviours, how we interact with others etc. This probably helps a lot during standard revision discussions as I try to always see other people’s points of view and perspectives

Moving into Training and Safety including Hard Hat Safety

Can you explain why you made this move?
Quite simply I love people! I found that educating people and understanding their concerns around safety also continued to furnish me with my thirst for knowledge and grew my understanding of people’s needs and requirements. I really enjoy interacting with people and love how they also educate me.
“Every day is a school day!”

Changes in HSE and hard hat safety

In the years since you started working in the safety area, how much have things changed? What do you think will be the biggest change in the next ten years?
Things have definitely progressed in understanding people’s mental health and welfare.
This is still an area where more work needs to be done but (and this may be controversial) have we over time forgotten about the fundamental basics of health and safety?

At the top we push down pages upon pages of RAMs (Risk Assessment and Method Statements) and expect everyone to understand why we are doing this. I personally don’t think we take enough time to educate people about the reasons why. The end result of this is Safety Managers are sometimes seen as box tickers and not fosterers of a healthy and productive workplace. I’m hoping that this changes as we take more time to educate and understand people’s concerns.

“Health and Safety always starts with a person and looking after their welfare should be their priority.”

Hard Hats and Hard Hat Safety

How have hard hats changed since they were first used? Have the materials improved? What about fit? Has the comfort level increased? Has hard hat safety improved?
Being honest with you they have not changed a lot since the first thermoplastic injected helmet was invented in 1952.

What has improved however is the material with things like ABS and PP (types of plastic) as well as the manufacturers’ desire to make a safer more comfortable safety helmet.
What needed to improve was the standard as the base level of protection did not mirror the incidents and accidents that were occurring on a daily basis out in the real world. Thankfully these are now moving in the right direction and in turn will enable manufacturers to produce lighter and more protective helmets in future.

Companies like Guardio and Eyelock are pioneering in producing more protective and comfortable helmets.

Hard Hats, Hard Hat Safety and Diversity

How often do manufacturers of hard hats take into account different head shapes based on gender and ethnicity, different hair types and different preferences?
This has always been a difficult thing to address. This is because for a safety helmet/hard hat to be most effective it needs to be in direct contact with the head of the person it is protecting.

A great example of this is the wearing of a hoodie hood underneath your head protection. Firstly, this is not licensed so therefore we do not know if you would continue to receive the required protection. Secondly, it is most likely that it will have a negative effect on the performance of the safety helmet/hard hat. Typically, most safety helmets/hard hats have a headband and nape strap which tighten around the head. However, these are not always as effective on people with lots of hair or different shaped heads but nevertheless do tighten in some areas. Thankfully pioneering companies like Optrel Isofit have addressed this issue with a flexible and adjustable headband layer.

Worst hard hat in terms of hard hat safety

What is the worst hard hat you have ever seen and why?
The worst safety helmets/hard hats are the ones that do not comply to the safety standards. These are typically purchased through on-line shops although they have been found elsewhere for sale. The British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) does a lot of great work to find and report sub-standard PPE. You should be careful when purchasing any PPE either on-line or from a store. Always use your due diligence and default to reputable manufacturers.

Quality of work life and hard hats

How do well fitting and appropriate hard hats improve a person’s work life? (in terms of feeling safe, feeling appreciated, feeling warm/cool etc.)

Here is my take on this using a particular scenario which demonstrates hard hat safety.

“John works for a large construction company and wears his safety helmet/hard hat for around 6 hours a day. He was supplied with a cheap, uncomfortable hard hat when he first started with the company and regularly goes home suffering with pressure headaches and fatigue.

John doesn’t like wearing his hard hat because it’s uncomfortable and regularly takes it off to give his head a breather during the course of a day. John was involved in a serious incident where at the time he was not wearing his hard hat.”

John suffered a serious head injury which has not only changed his life forever but also fundamentally changed the lives of others around him. Is the cost saving worth having an incident like this one John suffered?

Can you give an example (or examples) of a situation which is made less safe because of poorly fitting or ‘not fit for purpose’ hard hats? (or an accident)

Well, there are lots of these and probably too many to put here.
Probably the best examples I can give are when I have conducted safety helmet/hard hat inspections during HHAW in the past. I have found hard hats two years out of date, ones without sweatbands, ones with cradles missing and ones with ratchets/nape straps missing.
All of these examples if they had not been found could have resulted in little or no protection for the operative during an incident.
We need to maintain our hard hats as these are protecting our most valuable asset, our brain!

Establishing Hard Hat Awareness Week to champion Hard Hat Safety

Where did the idea come from?
It originated from me as I felt that people were not educated enough about head injuries and their possible consequences. Also, people did not maintain their hard hats and check them on a regular basis to make sure they still functioned. I was upset that the hard hat market was commoditising, and people would rather spend £70-£80 on their safety boots than their head protection.

What is the main aim of the week?
Hard Hat Awareness Week was introduced to drive awareness of brain injury through activities designed to encourage best practice around safety equipment. Wearing a hard hat, maintaining and storing it appropriately, and being more concussion and head injury aware are all vital to keeping hard hat wearers safe.

How is it developing and growing? How do you think it will change in the next five years?
It is growing organically but is funded personally by myself as unfortunately sponsors don’t want to get on board and support the week. I had sponsors a couple of years back but for the last two years it’s been mainly run by myself with the help of some very special people (they know who they are). Over the next five years I’m hoping that it will continue to grow, and more companies/people will get on-board and support the week. I have always been supported non-financially by the likes of Headway and Silver Lining charities and I’m thankful for that.

Hard Hat Safety in Society

Hard hats are worn in a variety of places – for work and hobbies? Are there any which are surprising?
Not really because as we move through life, I’m hoping that more and more people will understand the importance of wearing head protection whilst pursuing their hobbies or at work. Whilst taking my son to school every day I see children riding bikes to school wearing no head protection so clearly, we still have a long way to go.

Establishing Standards for Hard Hat Safety

You are also involved in establishing new standards for hard hats. Can you explain what this involves?

Currently I’m super proud to be the Chair of Head Protection for the UK as well as actively revising current European and Global standards around head protection. I have the pleasure of working with some great people from all over the world and I enjoy it very much.

Standards constantly need to be revised to provide a better base level of testing and protection and that’s pretty much what I am involved in. I’m currently working on EN397 Industrial Safety Helmets, EN12492 Helmets for Mountaineers and PAS08 (BS8728) Marine Safety Helmets as well as working on a new Helmet for Ski Mountaineers standard.

Further reading

Spotlight on one company designing PPE underwear for women
PPE needs to be designed with a focus on diversity