The influence of hard hat design features on head acceleration attenuation

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2021

Abstract

This study evaluated the performance of 6 commercially available hard hat designs-differentiated by shell design, number of suspension points, and suspension tightening system-in regard to their ability to attenuate accelerations during vertical impacts to the head. Tests were conducted with impactor materials of steel, wood, and lead shot (resembling commonly seen materials in a construction site), weighing 1.8 and 3.6 kg and dropped from 1.83 m onto a Hybrid III head/neck assembly. All hard hats appreciably reduced head acceleration to the unprotected condition. However, neither the addition of extra suspension points nor variations in suspension tightening mechanism appreciably influenced performance. Therefore, these results indicate that additional features available in current hard hat designs do not improve protective capacity as related to head acceleration metrics.

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Biomechanics

Volume

37

Issue

2

First Page

80

Last Page

86

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1123/JAB.2020-0182

ISSN

10658483

E-ISSN

15432688

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