Integrated hard hat welding helmet combo

By swsweld (****)

Date 03-25-2007 17:15

OSHA requires proper PPE on jobsites.
Contractors abide by these requirements.
Some more than others. Depending on the danger at the welders location and industry you are in, you can get the safety management or project management to waive the hard hat requirement.
If it is dangerous to the welder or the manager is not cooperative they will not.
If iron workers are connecting overhead and your welders are field fabbing pipe below them then no.
You can build safety barriers above the work if they will be there for a while obviously this may not be cost effective.
Sometimes you have to show/prove that the welds cannot be made w/hardhats and if they do not waive the rule you cannot garuntee the quality of the welds.

Being a welder I fully understand the aggrevation of the hardhat rule.
Being an owner or manager if you sign a waiver or verbally waive the hardhat requirement and a welder is injured or worse, you assume some liability. Most managers have never welded and can't relate to the adverse affects of the extra weight.

I have used the change in the nuclear industry to state my case. 15 yrs ago you used a respirator anytime you welded or ground contaminated materials.
Now they rarely require you to use a respirator. The extra stress caused by using a respirator was worse than the damage of breathing certain levels of contamination.

By sheras Date 03-26-2007 02:13

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.

By medicinehawk (**)

Date 03-26-2007 02:25

[deleted]

By Kix

Date 03-26-2007 12:31

There are ways to cheat this rule also with a grinder and some zip ties. Just use the shell inside the regular soft hood and have a real one near by to put on your head when your not welding. I'm pretty sure it's up to the contractor if your have to where one or you don't and if you do you can get permission to use a soft hood in tight spots.

By Kix

Date 03-26-2007 13:46

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 03-26-2007 13:02

Here is what I use, our shop requires hard hat use at all times.

All Jackson products shown.

By thcqci

Date 03-26-2007 16:02

Our shop and company require 100% use of hard hats also. We use similar hardware as John has shown. Most fabricators around here required hard hats whenever I was a 3rd party inspector years ago also. Although I have been in shops where hard hats were not required (mom and pop size shops usually), they were the exception, not the rule and I always wore mine.

By jarsanb (***)

Date 03-26-2007 17:18

we had the combo or hard hat while welding requirement a few years ago to satisfy any standards but changed the policy to read that the hard hat can be put on separately when welding is finished. This was approved by the PSC. Today about half the company welders still wear the hard hat under the hood. No contractors do, while welding, for us at least. Several companies sell an attachment to connect the welding hood to the hard hat. Modifying one yourself would be a C.F.R. violation I think. It is a company violation.

By joseph asturino (*)

Date 03-29-2007 12:18

fiber metal-(tiger hood).......light weight , and very durable for the field.