Posted By rsellars It is not up to the operatives when and where they wear hard hats it is up to you. As a general precaution the whole site should be declared a hard hat area due to the heavy plant which is usually in the area.

Posted By Rod D Rob T, I am afraid I am going to have to disagree with you on only wearing hard hats when there is the likelihood of something falling on your head. What about "Head Strike Hazards" from low beam & pipework etc. As the person who posted before you said as a general rule where ever there is heavy plant hard hats should be worn, well in my opinion. Remember where there is blame there is a claim. Yours Aye, Rod D

Posted By garyh In my view hard hats are PPE and should be only used as a last resort following a risk assessment. (Management of Health & Safety at Work regs, hierarchy of control and so on).

Posted By Merlin Sorry to be a wet squid but follow these links and it shall then be apparent whether you require head protection or not http://www.opsi.gov.uk/s...si_19922051_en_1.htm#end http://www.opsi.gov.uk/s...9/Uksi_19892209_en_1.htm http://www.opsi.gov.uk/s...si_19922966_en_1.htm#end

Posted By Lee Mac Hi Neil, If the men are involved in drainage or working in close proximity to where excavators are operating- hard hats must be worn. Men working along the roadside where there is no risk of injury to the head- no need for a hard hat. Some lads just don't like the elf & safety bod telling them what to do- but unfortunately it is up to us to show them clearly where it states that they are to wear a hard hat via your RA & MS- of if they are in through subbies I am sure their H&S Lit will have been vetted enough to see that this form of PPE has been included, as one poster mentions, as a last resort. When this has all been shown to the individual- sometimes a one- to one situation is best when trying to persuade him as he won't feel like he is "backing down". Lee

Posted By Shaun Brennan i used to run men on the side of the road and we used to make them wear hard hats because vehicles flick up all sorts of stones and debris and it is good practice to wear them around machines anyway. The ultimate decision is down to the company, plus bump caps are illegal on a construction site and this site would be classed as a construction site . Hope that helps. Bugsy

Posted By Shaun Brennan Lee, No Problem about questioning mate, that is what this forum is for. they had built in Googles on their helemts to protect their eyes and we did RA so that they worked behind Herras fencing on the side of the road so at least they had some protection in the safety zone, this coupled with barriers helped but ultimatley couldnt stop dust and large debris flying( large debris would be smallish stones and pebbles), although we had no injuries.if you set your traffic management up you can direct traffic away from the safety zone and also include chicanes to slow traffic down to such a speed as they wont flick up the large debris. you will only know how to do this once you are on site and take advice from the local councils highways advisor. i hope this helps Bugsy