Annual Conference Safety Highlights
Seth Randall, Clark Concrete 9-2019
Protecting the human head from trauma cuts across industry and profession. It is a topic among parents and children learning to ride a bike, as well as among professional football players. In 2017, 971 fatal injuries occurred in the construction industry, with a rate that triples the overall US workplace fatality rate. Falls and struck-by incidents were the most common injury mechanisms in the construction injury. Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) account for 25% of all construction fatalities, and a large percentage of TBIs in the industry are due to falls (381 in 2017). However, previous and still-prevalent industry standards for head protection is equipment designed in the 1960s.
The traditional hard hat protects wearers from falling objects. However, when the person is falling, traditional hard hats are often the first objects to leave the body during the momentum of the fall.
In 2016, Clark’s safety team pivoted against industry standards in search of a hard hat that protects against ground level falls, swing falls, and falls from heights. Clark wanted to better protect our workers and hoped to start an industry-wide cultural shift. More than a year of research, testing, and investigation was put into this. We looked for helmets with foam on the top, rear, and sides to add/replace typical suspension and absorb energy on impact, and an integrated chin strap to keep the helmet from falling off. The helmet needed to be comfortable and durable, while providing the same protection of our current hard hats.
After meeting with different manufacturers, Clark partnered with KASK (an ASCC member), an Italian brand known for helmets designed for skiing, horse riding, and bicycling – all sports with high fall rates. Clark settled on the KASK safety helmet and began to test and refine KASK’s design against national safety standards. Clark Concrete, a 600-person division within Clark, adopted the helmets in Spring 2016. After one year of testing, refining, and exploring the helmet, Clark received full buy-in from the executive level and adopted the KASK helmet for all workers – approximately 3,000 people.
Since the adoption of the helmet hard hat, Clark has confirmed multiple cases in which an employee fell wearing the KASK Zenith. It was judged that in other circumstances, the individuals would have faced severe head injuries. Our measure of success is the absence of traumatic brain injuries, both in our company and in the industry. Why generating buy-in to change a staple of the injury is difficult, the proof is in the results. With our own employees, we made an effort to demonstrate the many benefits of the new helmet and made employees feel as though they needed them (instead of being ‘required’ to wear them).
We are reminded, and haunted, by real life situations – times that people worked through hazards which had the potential to create head injuries. The memories of coworkers who fell from a height and hit their head on a concrete slab. Seeing them taken off the job in an ambulance and the effect on families and loved ones. I am passionate about this issue – about eliminating TBIs from falls through very simple changes. About protecting our people from accidents. PPE is our last line of defense. Let’s push the industry to make it better, and to keep our people safe. Look into helmets with chinstraps for your organization. Seth will speak on this topic at the Annual Conference on Friday at 10:30 and KASK is a conference sponsor.