The performance of industrial safety helmets under transverse loading

Abstract

In a recent industrial accident, a telecommunications lineman fell from a height of 6 m and sustained injuries to the side of his skull. He was not wearing a safety helmet but the accident raised the question of whether the common design of the industrial safety helmet, as issued to the victim, would have prevented injury in this case. A 'best case' calculation of the impact force, together with practical tests on the transverse stiffness of safety helmets, leads to the conclusion that, had a helmet been worn, the victim would still have sustained injury. The lack of stiffness in the short transverse direction of the helmet was confirmed by computational stress analysis using the Abaqus finite element code. Additional analyses point the way to improving the transverse protection afforded by industrial safety helmets at minimum cost to manufacturers and hence to end-users.