Posted By Philip Roberts Jeff, Try this link, two of our contractors wear these just to emphasise they are not cowboys regards Phil http://www.customhardhats.com/westernoutlaw.shtml

Posted By Andy Petrie I would be very weary having painted hard hats, people may be tempted to have a go at doing it themselves. Any application of paint, or other materials, can seriously compramise the integrity of the hard hard (meaning it can stop being hard).

Posted By Jeff Watt (LOL)Yeah like the ordinary yellow ones don't look stupid already? I think most PPE is on the looking stupid continuim somewhere, one of the reasons it is difficult to get 20 somethings to wear it, so why not go stupid like ya mean it and create a bit of a buzz about H&S. Hard Hat Chic. I am in danger of over simplifying my own post so.... I appreciate the don't DIY bit of Info, hence the "is there anyone in the UK who makes them" query so the folks don't need to.

Posted By Paul Hay Jeff Do they need to wear full on hard hats or would bump caps be acceptable. I have come across a couple of industrial sites where they have been issued with baseball cap style bump caps which serve the purpose and look reasonably (as PPE can be!) cool. Paul

Posted By Merv Newman Bump caps, especially the baseball types are pretty good but they are only to protect your scalp if you are working in a direct "head banging" situation. No good in construction where things can fall on you from a great height. Two ideas for persuading people to wear hard hats - have a "running in" period, maybe three months during which people can get used to wearing them. No sanctions if they don't, but positive reinforcement if they do. A couple of weeks before the end of this period remind them that as from (date) wearing will be mandatory. Other idea comes from when I worked in america. Construction workers would not wear hard hats because of their macho attitude. "I'm a man, who needs protective gear anyway ?" (actually, even the woman had the same attitude. Macha ?). The change-over took a few years, but nowadays you can identify construction workers because they wears a hard hat in the car, in a bar or even to go shopping. Why ? Because the hard hat is the badge of a real tough guy. "Look at me, you can see I work in construction" And some of the women do the same. The hard hat has become the badge of someone who is proud to show that they can do a tough job. Work on it.

Posted By Jeff Watt Folks Many thanks for all your supportive suggestions over the weekend. Some replies. I work in the brewing industry so we are talking 60kg kegs as the biggest SKU, so bump caps are out. Smallest SKU is in the 11kg range. A great suggestion with the shrink wrap but unfortuneately we have had other risks associated with shrinkwrapped stock. Shrink wrapping can hold a loose keg in place until couter weight is removed from above it when removing stock (we cannot use racking, pallats are stacked on top of each other) this has in the past then pulled down multiple kegs when the loose one falls. It seems counter intuative but it happens. Thanks for all the helpful comments re PPE mods, very true , never mess about with the design parameters of equipment. Similarly I hope you would all agree DON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN EITHER. When I worked in the chemical industry we never let any bit of kit go on the floor before beating and burning the heck out of it in the labs before daining it to be ready for comfort and useability trials by the operators. Why? Well the CE type approval for PPE is about meeting minimum standards, just because in your experience a TYPE5/6 grade chemical suit from Manufacturer A resists caustic soda does not mean that all TYPE5/6 suits from other suppliers will. Manufaturer A probably uses the same material for economy on his Type 4 suits as he does for his type 5/6. You are getting a really strong suit but you didn't realise it. Not all boots are the same, not all cars are the same, not all supermarket pork pies are the same but they all met a minimum standard to get them on the market. You have to trial and test these products to see what meets your needs. Melton Mowbray for me every time.