Use of adhesive stickers: It has become a common practice for hard hat users to apply self-adhesive stickers to personalize their hard hats or for other marking or identification purposes. Considering the type of adhesive used in typical pressure-sensitive stickers, there is very little potential for chemical interaction between the adhesive and the helmet shell. As a result, the use of stickers would not be expected to negatively affect the performance of the helmet under normal conditions. Stickers won’t harm the hard hat’s performance under normal conditions, but limit their use so the helmet shell can be inspected for signs of damage regularly.
There are a couple of rules to follow related to stickers.
First, adhesive stickers should be placed at least 3/4 inch away from the edge of the helmet. This prevents the possibility of the sticker’s acting as a conductor between the outside and inside of the shell if it were to wrap around the brim.
Second, the area of the helmet covered by stickers should be kept to a practical minimum to permit regular inspection of the helmet shell for signs of damage.
Hard hats worn backward: Prior to allowing employees to wear their hats backward, always get written verification from the hard hat manufacturer on whether your hard hat model has been tested and found to be compliant to the requirements of the American National Standards Institute standard when worn with the bill turned to the rear. The manufacturer may specify that proper performance requires the suspension to be reversed in the helmet, so that the headband is oriented normally to the wearer’s head (i.e., with the brow pad against the forehead and the extended nape strap at the base of the skull). In this manner, only the shell of the helmet is positioned backward on the head.
Hard hats are designed to provide optimal protection under normal conditions. Any impact can substantially reduce the protection offered.