Testing the Shock Protection Performance of Type I Construction Helmets Using Impactors of Different Masses

Details

• Personal Author:
  Pan, Christopher S. ; Ronaghi M ; Wimer BM ; Wu, John Z.
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Wearing protective helmets is an important prevention strategy to reduce work-related traumatic brain injuries. The existing standardized testing systems are used for quality control and do not provide a quantitative measure of the helmet performance. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the failure characterizations of Type I industrial helmets and develop a generalized approach to quantify the shock absorption performance of Type I industrial helmets based on the existing standardized setups. METHODS: A representative basic Type I construction helmet model was selected for the study. Top impact tests were performed on the helmets at different drop heights using two different impactor masses (3.6 and 5.0 kg). RESULTS: When the helmets were impacted with potential impact energies smaller than the critical potential impact energy values, there was a consistent relationship between the peak impact force and the potential impact energy. When the helmets were impacted under potential impact energies greater than the critical potential impact energy values, the peak impact forces increased steeply with increasing potential impact energy. CONCLUSION: A concept of safety margin for construction helmets based on potential impact energy was introduced to quantify the helmets' shock absorption performance. The proposed method will help helmet manufacturers improve their product quality. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Construction Helmet Construction Industry Equipment Testing Experiment Head Protective Equipment Impact Test Injury Prevention Safety Helmets Safety Margin Shock Protection Performance TBI Traumatic Brain Injury

  More +
• ISSN:
  0959-2989
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division ; DSR - Division of Safety Research ; NPPTL - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  351-363
• Volume:
  35
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069609
• Citation:
  Biomed Mater Eng 2024 Jul; 35(4):351-363
• Contact Point Address:
  John Z. Wu and Christopher S. Pan, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
• Email:
  ozw8@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Bio-Medical Materials and Engineering
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:95a385c2a93c6a0413a19a3ccf9fb914d216165ac5b1b49c6de64b9e2d4e0b9df2118e23854667ee22c8361ab2a0714b9b2ef7a1c02062aaeee25c70dc5e42d6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208008/cdc_208008_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 492.23 KB ]