Safety
AtkinsRéalis Pilots New PPE Head Protection Design Across UK Jobsites
An AtkinsRéalis spokesperson said the hard hat design was made available this month for employees across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Photo courtesy of AtkinsRéalis
Montreal-based design firm AtkinsRéalis says it is piloting a new hard hat design for its employees that can be adjusted to fit a wider range of head shapes and hairstyles, including religious headwear.
An AtkinsRéalis spokesperson told ENR that the hard hat design, primarily used for design teams to walk jobsites, was made available this month for teams across the United Kingdom and Ireland as the company looks to drive inclusivity and provide employees the resources they need to safely do their work. Such efforts have also resulted in improved access to sanitary disposal facilities across jobsites, the company said.
Personal protection equipment (PPE) manufacturer MSA produced the helmet with a rubber-reinforced ABS shell, for increased protection against lateral deformation, and suspension tech inside that adjusts to the wearer.
Photo courtesy of AtkinsRéalis
“If we want to create construction sites that welcome all people, we have to remove as many barriers as we can to attract more people from all backgrounds into the sector, and make it as easy as possible for everyone to perform their work safely and comfortably,” said James Butler, AtkinsRéalis managing director for project and program services, in a July 7 statement. “This initiative is a brilliant example of small changes that can have a big impact.”
Quantity surveyor Laurienne Buhinja had input in the new hard hat’s design.
Photo courtesy of AtkinsRéalis
“As a black woman with braided hair, I found the conventional ‘one-size-fits-all’ hard hat was not fit for purpose and provided less protection as a result,” said AtkinsRéalis quantity surveyor Laurienne Buhinja, who helped drive the hard hat’s design. “This is an issue for men and women with long hair, or hair styles and headgear for religious or cultural reasons which do not suit conventional hard hats, as well as many bald people who can find that standard issue headwear can rub and cause discomfort.”
She added, “Construction workers today are not all one standard size and shape, or gender, and PPE equipment needs to reflect that.”
The hard hat pilot comes on the heels of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s revision to the construction personal protective equipment standard (29 CFR 1926.95(c)) last year, which requires companies to not only provide PPE but to ensure it fits.
The change aligns the construction standard with the standard already in place for several other industries, said then-Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker last year.
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"I’ve talked to workers in construction, particularly women, who have spoken of personal protective equipment that didn’t fit or was simply unavailable at the jobsite in their size," Parker said. “PPE must fit properly to work."
AtkinsRéalis ranked No. 5 on ENR’s 2024 Top 225 International Design Firms list and No. 9 on the 2024 Top 150 Global Design Firms list.
