Hi all, we recently had an accident in our factory as a result of some glass ricocheting out a cullet bin and landing on somebodys head (first time it's ever happened I believe). I've been down the route risk assessing how the activity is done, putting together an SOP etc. However, one thing that we have been in discussion about is the use of head protection; we do use it with certain tasks already and are thinking of making it blanket requirement for all operatives on the factory floor to wear them (as there is the risk of objects striking the head i.e. glass lifted with a pneumatic lifter; potential for the operator to 'swing' or turn the glass and strike somebody). However, disregarding the cost for a moment, the biggest issue I can foresee is employees' objects to do so (because they've never had to before now, so why should they etc) and the issues that brings with it. What I thought might make it slightly more 'palatable' is offering a bump cap, instead of hard hats; problem is, they don't prevent injuries from 'flying or falling objects'; the accident is such a strange one because in over 30 years, this is the first time its ever happened, so I dont know where we stand with the 'hard hat vs bump cap' issue. Should it be that - generally speaking - because we dont really work in an industry where 'flying or falling objects' are likely to occur, and the accident is so unlikely to be repeated that we can justify bump caps? Or, is should it be seen as "no, its happened once, so it could happen again, therefore hard hats are a must"? I have risk assessed (so please don't throw that one at me) but I can't draw meaningful conclusions (because it has happened, but the risk is so low of it being repeated that it doesnt seem worth investing in a hard hat); what do others think? Our MD has been to other manufacturers - in our industry - and some of them are really OTT in terms of PPE, but we think it might be a sensible option to explore a) everyone wear bump caps or b) some people wear them, others might wear hard hats (but again, this one might be a hard "sell"). Many thanks.

Hard hat is item falling from above, bump cap is employees head striking against object - your incident is neither of these. If anything the closest description is shrapnel - Mk7 Combat Helmet?

Or as you are doing challenge the sanity of the rush to PPE and evaluate if your other controls negate repetition keeping PPE appropriate to the employees who truly need it for specfic tasks - from bitter experience a hard hat is not the same protection as a bump cap.

Have to agree with roundtuit that hard hat /PPE is one of the ;atter things to look at, bearing in mind the OP comment " glass ricocheting out a cullet bin and landing on somebodys head".    
Doesn't that suggest something went wrong with handling the glass or the receptical it was intended.  If the pedestrian was hit from above then barriers, grids etc could also remove the opportunity for the glass to become a hazard.   Perhpas if we solve the glass handling then PPE is not required!

Originally Posted by: AcornsConsult

Have to agree with roundtuit that hard hat /PPE is one of the ;atter things to look at, bearing in mind the OP comment " glass ricocheting out a cullet bin and landing on somebodys head".    
Doesn't that suggest something went wrong with handling the glass or the receptical it was intended.  If the pedestrian was hit from above then barriers, grids etc could also remove the opportunity for the glass to become a hazard.   Perhpas if we solve the glass handling then PPE is not required!

Thanks for your input. As I said, this activity has been conducted for over 30 years and this is the first accident of its kind; were it daily/weekly/monthly occurrence, it would suggest just me there was something happening that need resolving at a procedural level (i.e. glass handling). As it turns out, this just seems to be one those "freak accidents" that we can't really explain (it wasn't from above, it happened on the same level). We do have an SOP and all staff are trained on it, and I have reviewed it to make sure there isn't more we can do to reduce the risk; the only 'reasonably practicable' thing we can do, is offer PPE.

I had experience of this dilemma many years ago, even before I was in the h&s business. I inherited a blanket rule from a previous manager that all operatives wear hard hats at all times on the plant. This was unpopular, and was a pain to enforce. I looked at the actual risks, and the only one was someone bumping their head on pipework,, there was no risk of falling objects. Bump caps are far more comfortable, so I changed the rule to use them instead. Problem solved, everyone wore bump caps, so objective achieved.

In the case of bits of glass flying about I would be far more worried about protecting people's eyes than their heads.

Ok, since it looks like we want to “sweat” this one, did the person carefully drop the glass in to the cullet bin or did they chuck vaguely in the direction of the bin and it caught the edge and bounced hitting him on the head.  Is this common practice?  Is the area around the bin clear of broken glass or is it covered with bits of broken glass which missed the bin but didn’t bounce back?

Is it case of getting people to put the glass in the bin correctly, even place it in the bin rather than chuck?

Of course I have no insight into what actually happened, but this is the sort of questions I would ask before trying to get people to wear PPE (bump cap, hard hat or even as suggested face protection)