Discussion
Can anyone tell me the legal requirement on replacement of hard hats for construction Please??
I am in a quandry - someone has told me they should be replaced every two years, I can tell how old they are from the stapms on the inside of the hats from people and I have a record of all these.
Any help appreciated.
I am in a quandry - someone has told me they should be replaced every two years, I can tell how old they are from the stapms on the inside of the hats from people and I have a record of all these.
Any help appreciated.
The construction site safety manual which is the bible you refer to when doing the site management safety traning scheme course (SMSTS) doesn't stipulate how often hard hats should be replaced, but it was mentioned during the course that it should be every year, which seems rather extreme to me.
This text below has been lifted from http://www.cdc.gov/eLCOSH/docs/d0500/d000504/d0005...
'Many employers replace all employees' caps every five years, regardless of outward appearance. If the user environment is known to include higher exposure to temperature extremes, sunlight, or chemicals, hard hats should be replaced routinely after two years of use. Most hard hats have manufacture date codes molded on the underside brim of the cap so you can easily determine the age of the cap'.
It's a foreign website, but I've used portions of it in our health and safety manual and risk assesments.
Hope that helps.
This text below has been lifted from http://www.cdc.gov/eLCOSH/docs/d0500/d000504/d0005...
'Many employers replace all employees' caps every five years, regardless of outward appearance. If the user environment is known to include higher exposure to temperature extremes, sunlight, or chemicals, hard hats should be replaced routinely after two years of use. Most hard hats have manufacture date codes molded on the underside brim of the cap so you can easily determine the age of the cap'.
It's a foreign website, but I've used portions of it in our health and safety manual and risk assesments.
Hope that helps.
I'm a Project Manager in the Construction Industry. The legal side is a bit vague. Something like take reasonable precautions / all steps so far as reasonably practicable. Basically it comes down to the individual company to implement it's own "Risk Assessment Based" policy.
It depends on the type of work you are doing, the environment you are working in etc etc.
The way we got round it was to change everyone's hard hat on January 2nd every year. This year they are ALL white, last year they were blue. Next year they may be green.
That way anyone wearing one of our hard hats (they all have our company logo on the front) that "just isn't this years colour" gets it replaced. All the old ones go for recycling.
Best to keep a PPE register for all your employees too, which is a written record of the equipment that you have issued to them over the year. We also carry out random audits of sites, with spot checks on everyone's PPE. Oh and just for good measure PPE makes a great subject for a once a week / fortnight / month tool box talk.
HTH
Mike
It depends on the type of work you are doing, the environment you are working in etc etc.
The way we got round it was to change everyone's hard hat on January 2nd every year. This year they are ALL white, last year they were blue. Next year they may be green.
That way anyone wearing one of our hard hats (they all have our company logo on the front) that "just isn't this years colour" gets it replaced. All the old ones go for recycling.
Best to keep a PPE register for all your employees too, which is a written record of the equipment that you have issued to them over the year. We also carry out random audits of sites, with spot checks on everyone's PPE. Oh and just for good measure PPE makes a great subject for a once a week / fortnight / month tool box talk.
HTH
Mike
Edited by GuinnessMK on Wednesday 7th May 20:40
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