# Hard Hats: Fiberglass vs Plastic



## daveEM

Well if plastic is free?

Often you get what you pay for. I suspect the plastic one is rated tho and quite safe. Keep in mind if a piano falls on your head neither hat will help.


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## uconduit

I'm more worried about anvils falling on me!!! lol


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## chewy

I use non vented plastic.


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## Big John

Hardhats have design ratings, if two hats have the same rating they offer the same basic protection: Most hardhats are Type 1, which means they all have the same impact rating. Type 2 I believe is something closer to a climbers helmet. An electrician often needs a Class E hardhat, which I believe has a 20kV dielectric strength. Vented hardhats are considered conductive and are often prohibited. 

I think the only actual difference a fiberglass hat has is much higher temperature resistance. If you're not working in a kiln or a foundry, that really doesn't matter.

For comfort, there are different styles of webbing and headbands and you'll just have to try them out.


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## chewy

I wear an MSA V Guard XL hardhat with Class5 muffs, chinstrap and cheap headlight mounted on the front with double sided vehicle trim tape. 

I've gone nuts on a plastic helmet with a hammer and was surprised how strong they are, only after repetitive strikes with the claw did we finally penetrate it. 

One thing I will note is to avoid white plastic helmets, the colored helmets discolor after an impact, and impact that didn't nesscarily happen while you wear wearing it but could affect the integrity of your lid, hard to tell with white.


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## Acadian9

I have a Fibre Metal P2A hard hat. Type 1 - Class G (2200V) and fits like a glove. The smooth dome shape allows objects to somewhat be deflected away from the head upon impact. It's comfortable, light and stylish.


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## BBQ

I am glad the company I work for does not allow stickers on the helmets other than job required ones.


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## drumnut08

BBQ said:


> I am glad the company I work for does not allow stickers on the helmets other than job required ones.


you must be a hoot at parties , lol ?


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## drumnut08

uconduit said:


> Which hardhat is better, in terms of comfort, dielectric strength, and protection from falling objects? Fiberglass costs money, plastic is free for me.


i like the ones I don't have to buy , which has been any hard hat I've ever owned . If a contractor wants you to wear it , they have to provide it .


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## drumnut08

BBQ said:


> I am glad the company I work for does not allow stickers on the helmets other than job required ones.


i've been known to color outside of the lines , jaywalk , and on occasion run with scissors , but I don't recall placing non essential stickers on my hard hat , so I feel somewhat vindicated , lol .


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## Acadian9

BBQ said:


> I am glad the company I work for does not allow stickers on the helmets other than job required ones.


Don't like the Patriots? :blink:


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## daveEM

BBQ will be getting the Anti Stickie campaign in full gear now. 

The suggestion that they (the stickies) be covering dangerous cracks, etc. will infuriate all the mothers of construction workers. Laws will be drawn up and the world will be a better place eh? Stickies on Hard Hats will be banned.

Acadian9 keep the hat... it will be a museum piece soon.


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## Big John

At the risk of sounding like a boot polisher: BBQ does service work and so do I. I don't think it's the best image for service guys to show up on jobs with hardhats covered in stickers. 

And seeing the reams of HR paperwork we often deal with at customers sites, it would only be a matter of time before someone claimed to be offended by a sticker.


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## Acadian9

Big John said:


> At the risk of sounding like a boot polisher: BBQ does service work and so do I. I don't think it's the best image for service guys to show up on jobs with hardhats covered in stickers.
> 
> And seeing the reams of HR paperwork we often deal with at customers sites, it would only be a matter of time before someone claimed to be offended by a sticker.


I can understand the service aspect of our trade (my dad is in charge of the company service dept.) but I am on a job site on the construction side of things. Not even I would wear this hard hat to someones home.


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## drumnut08

daveEM said:


> BBQ will be getting the Anti Stickie campaign in full gear now. The suggestion that they (the stickies) be covering dangerous cracks, etc. will infuriate all the mothers of construction workers. Laws will be drawn up and the world will be a better place eh? Stickies on Hard Hats will be banned. Acadian9 keep the hat... it will be a museum piece soon.


some of the best electricians I've ever worked with hat sticker covered hard hats , yet oddly enough they were still able to speak in complete sentences and do the job , lol ? I have worked in places that won't let that fly , but I could care less about some stickers . It has no impact on the skill level of said individual at all .


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## BBQ

daveEM said:


> BBQ will be getting the Anti Stickie campaign in full gear now.
> 
> The suggestion that they (the stickies) be covering dangerous cracks, etc. will infuriate all the mothers of construction workers. Laws will be drawn up and the world will be a better place eh? Stickies on Hard Hats will be banned.
> 
> Acadian9 keep the hat... it will be a museum piece soon.


My view has nothing to do with safety or of cracks in the helmet and all about image.

I just prefer not to look like white trash. :laughing:


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## BBQ

drumnut08 said:


> some of the best electricians I've ever worked with hat sticker covered hard hats , yet oddly enough they were still able to speak in complete sentences and do the job , lol ? I have worked in places that won't let that fly , but I could care less about some stickers . It has no impact on the skill level of said individual at all .


No one has said that stickers say anything about skill level.


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## EBFD6

drumnut08 said:


> some of the best electricians I've ever worked with hat sticker covered hard hats , yet oddly enough they were still able to speak in complete sentences and do the job , lol ? I have worked in places that won't let that fly , but I could care less about some stickers . It has no impact on the skill level of said individual at all .


Someone can be the best electrician in the world, but if they're wearing the hard hat that Acadian9 posted the image they put forth is that of an unprofessional knuckle dragging neanderthal. I don't know Acadian9, he could be the nicest, most competent electrician in the world, if I saw him wearing a hard hat with those stickers my first thought would be - moron. Is that really the image that you want to portray to the public? I'm surprised the IBEW would even allow their name to be associated with those types of "advertisements". I'm far from the pressed shirt, polished boots, clean shaven crowd that we have here on the forum. However, I try to have a little bit of professionalism.

And, just like BBQ, my company would never allow a hard hat like that to be worn on a site. It's not the fact it has stickers on it, but rather the content of the stickers.


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## TQuade

Got to much free time during the day to have time to decorate your hard hat only thing that should be on it should be mud or blood


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## Acadian9

BBQ said:


> I just prefer not to look like white trash. :laughing:


 Come on now, that's pretty harsh isn't it? :laughing:



TQuade said:


> Got to much free time during the day to have time to decorate your hard hat only thing that should be on it should be mud or blood


All those stickers were applied while at home and not during working hours.


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## chewy

That many stickers looks gay. I only keep the current sites Im inducted on stickers on my lid. They come off as the project finishes, I dont need or care for people to know where I have worked.


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## tfo

My hat goes straight in the garbage as soon as the jobs done. I'll get a nice new one at the next job.
The site im on requires a sticker for your company, your name and reflective stripe stickers, so thats all thats on it.


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## drumnut08

BBQ said:


> My view has nothing to do with safety or of cracks in the helmet and all about image. I just prefer not to look like white trash. :laughing:


no , I'm sure you'll never be mistaken for white trash , maybe an uptight rule following kill joy , but never white trash , lol ! I i never put stickers on my hard hat , but it doesn't bother me either . I agree with upholding a certain image if you're in the service oriented end of the trade , but I see no problem with it on a job site .


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## drumnut08

EBFD6 said:


> Someone can be the best electrician in the world, but if they're wearing the hard hat that Acadian9 posted the image they put forth is that of an unprofessional knuckle dragging neanderthal. I don't know Acadian9, he could be the nicest, most competent electrician in the world, if I saw him wearing a hard hat with those stickers my first thought would be - moron. Is that really the image that you want to portray to the public? I'm surprised the IBEW would even allow their name to be associated with those types of "advertisements". I'm far from the pressed shirt, polished boots, clean shaven crowd that we have here on the forum. However, I try to have a little bit of professionalism. And, just like BBQ, my company would never allow a hard hat like that to be worn on a site. It's not the fact it has stickers on it, but rather the content of the stickers.


its a form of expression and I see no need to get twisted over it . If the guy's a worker , I'll look the other way on his marked up hard hat . As far as IBEW guys , they've had more marked up hats than anyone over ever worked with . Proof to me , that maybe this isn't such a problem after all ?


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## chewy

I think its gay how you can buy a set of entirely different stickers for your hard hat to give it folksy charm.

http://www.amazon.com/Hardhat-Sticker-Electrician-White-Blue/dp/B009KP2FZY/ref=pd_sbs_indust_4


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## B4T

Stickers on hard hats just looks dumb and does nothing to broadcast a professional image...

It reminds me of a Ford station wagon plastered with "Jesus Loves You" bumper stickers all over it.. :no::no:


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## LARMGUY

After I got my free 3M hard hat, this is the only sticker I took off and put on the new one.


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## LARMGUY

After I got my free 3M hard hat, this is the only sticker I took off and put on the new one.


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## Acadian9

Lets see some other hard hats posted here?


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## Pault

We have to wear hard hats rated for side impacts. It makes them ultra hot because the area you would normally have between the harness and shell has foam in it similar to a bike helmet. 

As far as stickers go, every time we attend a site orientation we get a sticker that must be displayed on the hard hat.


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## sbrn33

I bet BBQ hates radios also.


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## BBQ

Acadian9 said:


> Come on now, that's pretty harsh isn't it? :laughing:


Yeah, but honest. 

I am not saying you are WT, just that I think the p0rnstar stickers on the helmet look kinda trashy.






> All those stickers were applied while at home and not during working hours.


:laughing:


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## BBQ

drumnut08 said:


> no , I'm sure you'll never be mistaken for white trash , maybe an uptight rule following kill joy , but never white trash , lol ! I i never put stickers on my hard hat ,


:laughing:


Some people would view me as WT, I don't shave as much as I should, my hair is often messed up, I have Walmart pool in one of the cheapest houses in town and ..... I was a _carny_. :laughing:


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## Awg-Dawg

BBQ said:


> :laughing:
> 
> 
> Some people would view me as WT, I don't shave as much as I should, my hair is often messed up, I have Walmart pool in one of the cheapest houses in town and ..... I was a _carny_. :laughing:


 
Oddly enough, that is the Websters definition of WT.:laughing:


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## MHElectric

BBQ said:


> :laughing:
> 
> 
> HTML:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some people would view me as WT, I don't shave as much as I should, my hair is often messed up, I have Walmart pool in one of the cheapest houses in town and ..... I was a _carny_. :laughing:


I'd say this posts deserves a thumbs up. :thumbsup:

Carry on.


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## Acadian9

BBQ said:


> Yeah, but honest.
> 
> I am not saying you are WT, just that I think the p0rnstar stickers on the helmet look kinda trashy.
> 
> :laughing:


My 67ish year old foreman saw my sticker and asked me to get him one too. I also have a "I (heart) BOOBIES" sticker on my personal toolbox and he wanted that one too for his hard hat.


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## drumnut08

Acadian9 said:


> My 67ish year old foreman saw my sticker and asked me to get him one too. I also have a "I (heart) BOOBIES" sticker on my personal toolbox and he wanted that one too for his hard hat.


buy that man a beer , when you're legal age of course , lol ! I know a Harley rider who has a helmet filled with some of the most foul , disturbing stickers I've ever seen and he's a decent guy . He just doesn't care what anyone thinks , lol ! Part of me respects that , although those would never fly on a hard hat without offending someone , lol !


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## Acadian9

drumnut08 said:


> buy that man a beer , when you're legal age of course , lol ! I know a Harley rider who has a helmet filled with some of the most foul , disturbing stickers I've ever seen and he's a decent guy . He just doesn't care what anyone thinks , lol ! Part of me respects that , although those would never fly on a hard hat without offending someone , lol !


I've been of legal age for over 5 years now :blink:


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## uconduit

Does fiberglass perform well to impacts? I've been on jobs where people have been saved by hard hats -- one guy had a 40 lb piece of steel hit him from about 13 feet, put a hole in his hard hat, took an eye out, crushed his skull and probably ended his career but he survived I'm not sure what type it was though.

If it performs better that would be my excuse to buy one. The full-brimmed natural color fiberglass ones are popular around here with foremen. I guess they have a certain "bling" factor. I don't know. I just saw one at a construction supply house and wanted to buy one and would have if the people working there didn't take so friggin long.


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## Big John

uconduit said:


> Does fiberglass perform well to impacts...?


All I can say for sure is if they have the same ANSI rating then fiberglass will perform at least as well as plastic. And if you're at the point where a plastic hardhat wouldn't save you, well.... :whistling2:


> ...The full-brimmed natural color fiberglass ones are popular around here with foremen. I guess they have a certain "bling" factor....


 These?








Yeah, they're nice looking. They're also $80 for what seems to be the exact protection I get for $12. Guys do say it's lighter weight, though.


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## Acadian9

http://www.ehow.com/info_12087263_hard-hats-thermoplastic-vs-fiberglass.html

It's usually the ironworkers and welders that I've seen wearing the fibreglass hard hat. I just though it looks cool and allows greater vision above my head because of what I do at work.


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## RobRoy

Acadian9 said:


> Lets see some other hard hats posted here?












I've been using this hard hat for over three years. I love it. My boss got it for me, and he's kind of a díck, so I take pride in wearing it. 









Mine is white on the outside.


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## TOOL_5150

BBQ said:


> No one has said that stickers say anything about skill level.


stickers only increase horsepower.... :laughing:


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## uconduit

You know that you can take those terry cloth headbands off and wash them in the laundry, right? All jokes aside, yeah, those are the fiberglass ones I'm talking about. I used to work for a foreman who had that very same type of white painted hardhat, I'm not saying he was a **** though ... but I'm not saying he wasn't one either.


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## TOOL_5150

uconduit said:


> Does fiberglass perform well to impacts? I've been on jobs where people have been saved by hard hats -- one guy had a 40 lb piece of steel hit him from about 13 feet, put a hole in his hard hat, took an eye out, crushed his skull and probably ended his career but he survived I'm not sure what type it was though.


Damn! I think id rather be dead...


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## RobRoy

uconduit said:


> You know that you can take those terry cloth headbands off and wash them in the laundry, right? All jokes aside, yeah, those are the fiberglass ones I'm talking about. I used to work for a foreman who had that very same type of white painted hardhat, I'm not saying he was a **** though ... but I'm not saying he wasn't one either.


Yeah, but I actually wear a hat underneath. It's way more comfortable. :thumbup:


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