Hi I recently moved job Sites, and the new Warehouse where im based, has several welders. Now, they are allowed to not wear Hard Hats only in this area, but everywhere else they have too. Now, there is a overhead crane, but they have had a Toolbox Talk on best practice for their area, and it says any suspended load, doesn't go over waist height. Is this acceptable??? Also, they say they don't wear hard hats, as its impossible to weld, are there any alternatives, like Bump caps, or cheap all in one hard hats? thanks

If the risk of head injuries is removed, why the need for head protection?

Its all down to a number of factors to include what the welders are welding, in what ergonomic situation e.g. overhead, confined space etc. and to what standard e.g. coded or not coded and thereafter providing or not providing head protection as necessary I presume that we are talking about head protection that protects from being hit on the head by heavy etc. objects not just spatter etc. noting that spatter must also be accounted for In my experience in many cases doing a good job is much harder when wearing head protection as well as spatter* protection [*e.g. the Kromer cap in my day] and the welding face mask itself