Posted: 12/11/2007 6:10:58 PM EDT
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Does the full-brimmed hard hat provide significantly better protection than the "visor"-brimmed hard hat? It seems to me that the full brim would do a bit to help protect the back of your neck from falling objects. normal "visor"-brimmed  full-brim 
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I've used the single brim for about 35 years. The brim on any of them gets in the way during a lift and will make your neck hurt from looking up. Used to be that you could turn it around bill to the rear if you were a welder; which I am, but now every piss ant safety goober knows what's best for you and you can't do that unless you are sparking right then. I never liked the soup bowl look of the 360 degree billed hard hats. Just my opinion. What kind of work will you be doing in this PPE? |
Mining. Primary danger is falling rock. |
Ours have the long backs to keep water from going down our backs. |
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Full brim is really good if you are working outside in the sun a lot. It can help protect your ears from sunburn. Also look at what you are working under. If there is a lot of loose lightweight material that may fall onto your head the full brim might be worth it. Typical construction work, the normal hardhat is better off as you can typically attach hearing protection and face shields to it with ease. |
which leads to another question, is the primary purpose of the full brim for sun block or for better neck protection from injury? |
Full brim works a lot better in the rain..........ask me how I know.... I think that it will give a little more for strikes on the back of the hat. It's there to protect from light strikes and bumps you do not want to test it with large objects or crushing blows , those are the ones that kill or maim..... |
Yeah i picked up on that one, they look almost exactly like the British WW1 helmet 
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Yeah, think a medium to small rock hitting your dome or clunking it on the top of a mine shaft or shit falling down the back of your neck. I work at a scientific research facility, we have huge 40 ton gantry cranes and they pick up big ass blocks of concrete and such. They move these over large concrete caves that have scientific equipment in them, I work on the equipment inside. We have to wear the hard hats in the caves. The hats will not help if something hits the cave heavy enough to fall through or knock a chunk out of it. Get the broad brim and see if you can find one with a chin strap. And you need an AR15.com boltface sticker. |
Yep, that's the one. Anyway, I prefer the full brim helmet; keeps sun off better, keeps debris out of my clothes, and is a lot more comfortable in the rain. The brim has also saved me some good knocks on the back of the head. A horizontal blow will move your head instead of smack it with a full brim helmet. |
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I've worn both kinds for many years. The visor ones may look "cooler" but the full brim ones are better in the rain or other water above you situations (like jokers 3 floors up with open floor grating and a 5 gallon bucket of water). They also balance better so they don't fall off as easy when you bend over to get your ass reamed by the boss for spraying the fire hose up 3 floors to get even for the 5 gallons of water earlier. Someone also mentioned that the visor type is better for attached ear muffs. Just my opinion. |
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I've worn a hard hat every working day for the last 8.5 yrs. Only falling object that has hit me in the head (hardhat) was a 3ft duct strap that Ralphie dropped. It was an accident, but how he got the nick "Ralphie" is too funny. But... About a year ago, our company changed from the visor type to the full-brim. I don't like the full-brim. My observations: 1. The full brim did nothing to keep my neck and ears from getting sunburnt. I spent a month or so on the top of the Accenture bldg - Prue and Babcock in San Antonio - and never thought my ears could peel that much. 2. Almost every damn time I climb out of a scissors lift, I catch the back part of the full-brim on the railing, knocking my hard hat off. I now just take it off when I climb down. As do most of my co-workers. 3. Having a bigger brim just hits on more things - especially when you're working up in a ceiling. 4. The front of the full 5. The full-brim is MUCH more prone to be blown off by the wind than the visor type. 6. I can throw a full-brim hard hat farther then the visor type. (tempers flared during a job meeting) And Ralphie. Ralphie is a practical joker. And a tin bender. He kept doing stuff to this one guy, and the guy got even in a big way. Ralphie is big...really big. And eats junk food like it's going out of style. The guy chewed up some chew, then stuffed it in a Twinkie. Ralphie at the Twinkie, then when Ralphie said it tasted funny, the guy told him about the chew. Ralphie proceed immiately to the nearest trash receptacle (near the water jug), and proceeded to "ralph" his guts out. Hence, Ralphie. I can't even remember his real name. I swear that's true, and I saw the whole thing. |
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I still wore my full brim McDonald "T" aluminum hard hat in the late 1980's. It was fun to go out to a site where everyone was wearing those gay-looking cheap plastic front brim baseball type hard hats. I'd get out, put on my "Rock McCloud the Logger" aluminum hat and watch them looking at it. Shortly they'd start sidling up asking if they could buy my hat, or asking where they could buy one. The aluminum hat is cooler in the summer since it not only reflects the heat, but it also doesn't hold heat like plastic, and they seem to actually be lighter than plastic. Due to OSHA crap., you can only wear them today in outdoors areas where there's no electric lines. The good news is, a company is bringing back the McDonald "T" aluminum hat and cap with a reinforced top: cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Skullbucket-Aluminum-Full-Brim-Hardhat-Hard-hat-SIL_W0QQitemZ360000085866QQihZ023QQcategoryZ11904QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem If you can't wear aluminum, buy an iron workers fiberglass version. At least you won't look like a sissy dick.
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I worn both during my eletrcian constrution days... Full brim provides more protection. The visor is for making face mask and hearing protection easier to wear. Plus they are lighter. Management always worn full brim since they didn't need face shields or long term hearing protection. Maybe to help protect from things being thrown at them too. |
+1 Rarely have to wear them, but when I do I normally end up on my ass from banging my head on something....... 
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Damned goofball's never spent a minute working around a crane, but he's going to tell me what's unsafe. He's a wasted paycheck. |