The job is often hard enough without having to fight with distractions, clothing that feels like a sweat suit, glasses that fog up, bulky gloves that lack dexterity and hard hats that won’t stay on a sweaty head. These are legitimate issues that workers often ‘just deal with’ to get the job done; Issues that many workers aren’t willing or are afraid to point out to a supervisor.
We know the key to personal protective equipment (PPE) saving you from injury or death is to wear it. Despite how many times we’re told so, there is still a significantly high percentage of safety observations conducted annually that cite workers not wearing the appropriate PPE for the task at hand. Consistently the most common complaint remains: ‘it’s uncomfortable’. You need a comfortable hard hat.
It’s possible that many of the safety suppliers you use have not worked in the industries they serve. The Principles at Key Safety have personally experienced tough jobs wearing uncomfortable PPE. There are many suppliers and brands to consider. We are dedicated to finding the most comfortable, best performing PPE and sharing the technical information with our clients so they can make an informed choice.
ERB Makes the Most Comfortable Hard Hat
Raise your hand if you’ve ever knelt down to pick up a tool you dropped on a hot humid day, only to have your hard hat slide off as you stand up and connect the back of your head with a valve stem. It makes an already tough job all the more painful. Like burning your hand on a hot stove, you tend not to forget that feeling, especially if you bite your tongue in the process.
Try to shake it off and crank down on the ratchet adjustment as much as you can tolerate the vinyl sweatband squeezing your forehead into a sort of figure-8. That was the only thing I knew to do but I always paid for it at the end of the day with a nasty headache and a semi-permanent indention across my forehead.
After wearing a common brand hat in the industry for 10 years, the first thing I noticed when picking up ERB’s Americana® full brim hard hat was its light weight. It is noticeably lighter than the major competing brand. Even a few ounces carried around by your neck 10 to 12 hours each and every work day makes a significant difference.
The second thing I immediately noticed was the swivel ratchet adjustment. Wow, it’s nice to see a hat designed with the idea that every head is shaped differently. ERB’s MEGA® ratchet system is available on each of ERB’s primary styles: the Americana, Omega® and Liberty® in both cap-style and full-brim. Here’s a term to Wikipedia if you’re bored: occipital bone. Everyone has one and it’s the saucer-shaped membrane bone situated at the back and lower part of your skull. ERB’s MEGA ratchet swivel allows the ratchet system to tighten and maintain a hold below that bone giving a snug fit that keeps the hat in place in any position. No worries about the system cutting into your scalp either. The inside of the ratchet has a foam pad liner which helps to maintain that tight hold…especially on a sweaty head.
Speaking of sweaty, let’s talk about the sweatband. Whether on a cheap car seat or in a hard hat, I’ve never come in contact with perforated vinyl that didn’t make me sweat. Somehow the true intent of the ‘sweatband’ was lost in translation when they started making them overseas. The sweatband was designed to absorb sweat, not make it. ERB’s hard hats come with a true moisture wicking sweatband, not a plastic one that begs to be set free in the trash and replaced with an aftermarket one.
ERB makes their hard hats right here in the U.S.A. It is a lighter, truly comfortable fitting hat that meets ANSI Z89.1 – 2009, Type 1, Class C, E and G requirements. It’s worth trying for yourself.