How the company that invented the hard hat is preparing for a hotter f
source link: https://www.fastcompany.com/90778362/how-the-company-that-invented-the-hard-hat-is-preparing-for-a-hotter-future
Go to the source link to view the article. You can view the picture content, updated content and better typesetting reading experience. If the link is broken, please click the button below to view the snapshot at that time.
How the company that invented the hard hat is preparing for a hotter future
Bullard patented the world’s first hard hat a century ago. But today, as more workers toil in extreme heat, it’s adding more features.
Global warming, wildfires, pandemics: The world is becoming more treacherous for everyone–but this is even more true for people in already hazardous professions.
Over the next decades, this hat was adapted to the needs of firefighters and construction workers. Joseph Strauss, the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, partnered with the company to create a hard hat tailored to protecting workers from falling rivets and particles released from sand blasting. “What we do at Bullard hasn’t really changed,” says Bullard, who is the founder’s great-great-grand daughter. “We watch workers closely and think about what products we can design to help them work productively and go home safely.”
[Photo: Bullard]When it comes to the hard hats for fire fighters, Bullard has incorporated new components, like moisture-wicking brow pads . But she says as the company’s designers worked closely with firefighters, they realize that one of the best ways to keep these workers cool is by reducing the weight they must carry on their head. So the team has been working on designing the lightest-weight hard hat possible. The company’s newest helmet is one of the lightest on the market, at about 50 ounces, thanks to the use of a new kind of fiberglass composite shell that reduces weight without compromising on protection. “We’ve been focused on using material science to get the weight out of the helmet, which helps with overall heat stress, which taxes the lungs and heart,” says Bullard.
[Photo: Bullard]To protect construction workers, the company has launched new products designed to provide quick relief from heat. For instance, it has launched a vest that can cool the body for up to four hours by maintaining a constant temperature of 55° F. It works by using a material called Isotherm, which maintains low temperatures without creating condensation. To use it, workers must submerge the vest in a cooler with ice water for 20 minutes.
Recommend
About Joyk
Aggregate valuable and interesting links.
Joyk means Joy of geeK