Dear All, I cannot find any definitive legislation on this and am in need of some advice please. Is it a legal requirement to wear hard hats whilst operating and working (in the basket) from a MEWP such as a cherry picker? As I understand it, hard hats take the hit of an object falling on your head and as such are designed to break apart when something hits it with enough force. it breaks instead of your head. Any clarification gratefully accepted.

Hard hats don't break apart, but they are irreparably damaged by a hard impact. The legality in a MEWP is the same as anywhere else - if there's a risk of head injury other than due to falling over you need to wear one. (Although soon (or is it already) the specific head protection requirement has been absorbed into general PPE requirements). Stephie is wrong - that's bump caps.

You should have in place a risk assessment and safety procedure for the use of a MEWP etc. in your workplace even before you use it. You can make it a company policy to wear hard hats if you feel the level of risk identifies this as a requirement.

Thank you very much for the input everyone, gratefully recieved as ever.

If you're in a position where bumps to the head are an issue then standard hard hats are no use. I've personally on more than one occasion suffered (albeit minor) neck compression injuries when bumping my head in a hard hat. Incidents which, ironically, would not have happened if i wasn't wearing a hardhat as you end up forgetting that your head is 4 or 5 inches taller than normal when ducking under things! On a similar note, if you're up in a MEWP and needing to access a tight space (ceiling grids being a typical situation for us) then hardhats are again of little use as they severely restrict access and often have to be removed. In a nutshell.... Hardhats = on the ground, general use, risk of falling objects Bumpcaps = tight spaces, risk of bumps, no/minimal risk of falling objects Hope this helps

Sorry, maybe I didn't explain myself very well. The situations we often find ourselves in involve working in some tight spaces. Situations where the risk of being hit by a falling object is all but non existent where as the chance of sustaining a serious bump/cut injury to the head is comparatively high. Prescribing standard issue hardhats in these situations would be a pointless control measure as the hardhat would have to be removed to allow access. This is the sort of situation I was referring to when I called hardhats pointless in head bump situations. That said, I still believe that the use of standard plastic hardhats in situations where there is no risk of falling objects but where there IS a bump risk is a lazy control measure which unfortunately seems to be too common. Many PCs and clients I've worked for have recoiled in horror when I've suggested we use bump caps rather than hardhats! Even when I've explained the reasons many will still not allow it. Having been personally injured twice from having to wear a hardhat and seeing various other injuries over the years, one of which resulted in the IP being concussed and hospitalised, I'm always very careful to ensure we use the right tools (well, PPE!) for the job.

I'm happy to say I agree with both the last two posts :-)

I am amongst other things a MEWP operator for 3a and 3b (boom and scissor), best practice dictates Helmet, Hi Viz Vest, Harness. The helmet is not just for stuff falling on your head! It is more visible than your skin or hair, so the banksman working below can see that you are upright at the very least. Should you keel over in your basket, people below can see you better. A helmet is also useful for attaching other things to it, like ear defenders and a visor.