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Is it mandatory to wear the hard hat and to provide the site worker with adequate eye protection? In most cases yes. How do you then solve the work site safety if you weld for a short period in between the other work tasks? Read further, we have the solution for you!  

When you think about occupational safety in general, it means you must be able to do the job at hand in the right way with the right equipment. And above all, everyone has the right to get home safely at the end of the day.  

Hard hat is mandatory on construction sites

The good thing is that the law obliges companies to pay attention to work safety in many ways. According to the occupational safety and health law, it is mandatory to always wear a hard hat at the construction site and to provide the site workers with adequate eye and hearing protection.  

It is also a well-known fact that the personal protective equipment must be suitable for the work in question, for example cold, hot, fire- and explosion-hazardous work environments. Taking ergonomics into account means that the protective equipment must not unnecessarily impede the employee’s work movements or working positions. 

So, there´s a challenging equation to solve in the daily work! 

Despite legislation, there are still too many head injuries 

The good news is that most workplaces pay close attention to worksite safety, the frequency of accidents is actively monitored, and a zero-accident level is a target for many. But still, it is evident that there´s a lot to be done. The figures speak for themselves. According to the Finnish workers´ compensation center, the insurance institutions paid compensation for 103,700 occupational accidents in 2020. Of these, 87,500 occurred during work tasks at the workplace, and 13,409 of them were head injuries at industrial workplaces. These figures represent just one country, so you can imagine what they are like on a global scale. 

Solution: a hard hat combined with a welding helmet

If the safety issues are mirrored in the work of a welder, we know that welding work takes often place at construction sites, shipyards, and other challenging work environments. A lot of times, welding can only represent a small part of the daily work which means that the transition from one work task to another should be smooth. The question is, how do you ensure the mandatory requirement of wearing the hard hat while welding?  

We have solved the problem with a modern solution called Kemppi Beta e for SH. A product range providing an easy solution to convert the hard hat (safety helmet) into a ready-to-wear welding helmet. Quick installation to the hard hat earmuff holder means easy switching between work modes. Therefore, the solution provides cost-efficient occupational safety with full head and face protection as well as the ability to wear a hard hat (safety helmet) while welding.  

Convenient, right? Let me know what you think and drop your thoughts anytime regarding the welding safety!