I have rarely seen hard-hat welding helmet combination in any of the PPE brochures/websites, which make me think that this is an unusual requirement. However, would like to know what AWS says about this? We work in a fabrication industry and our normal practice is not to work where overhead works are going on unless overhead is shielded by means of a scaffold platform or similar. Still, deflection of falling materials is a hazard. Then, welders are not always sitting with their heads upright and the most exposed part of their body to falling materials during welding is their neck (atleast i beleive so). Our incident history has only one case - that too a scrape incident during night shift, which a bump cap would have avoided.
But, our clients state that this PPE is used by US and UK welders without any problems. As per them, the complaints from our welders are initial resistance to anything new by the workforce. I am concerned about the ergonomic factors involved and as you say the quality of weld is another critical factor. I work in the Middle East where summer temp. is something above 45 degree C with high humidity and working hours is nothing less than 10 hours.
Any reply is appreciated.