Standard hat,

Ive just had a few jobs in over the summer that require me to wear a hard hat (Or “Safety Helmet” in PPE Geek parlance) so I finally decided to buy my own rather than borrowing one as I do at the moment. I really dislike wearing the normal builder style hats because they are heavy (Neck ache) and fall off all the time. Many riggers wear the Petzl Ecrin Roc (a climbing helmet) This is allegedly because they are the only IRATA (Think window cleaning by abseiling) certified helmet. This seemed like a good purchase (lightweight, comfortable, has a chinstrap and I can use it climbing), even with the painful price tag of £55, but its a tool and it will get good use. Unfortunately, none of the climbing helmets including the Ecrin roc are BSEN397:1995 certified which google tells me is the British standard. In most situations if I know anything about the regulations, it will be more than the person enforcing them so I can apply a little verbal lubricant and all will be good. So what exactly is BSENblah…blah…blah. More googleing and you end up at what looks like the official place for standards documents The British standars instituteand StandardsUK But hang on a minute, they seem to want about £120 to read it. I dont think so! Surely If i have to conform to something, at least tell me what it is before I spend any money. Presumably they burn your village and confiscate your second eldest goat in payment for testing, so why charge for the specs. I bet it doesn’t even say how big the average head is.

So I went to snow and rock and shelled out for an ecrin roc, despite the know it all in the shop who didn’t seem to like me referring to it as a hat (red rag to a bull ?) It is clearly a better hat than the £2.95 screwfix (BS…certified) one that I have used previously. I am however safe in the knowledge that I just have to spout a load of acronyms and standards numbers to anyone who questions me about it since they too will never have read the correct document.

Does this remind you of anything else anyone?

Some other useful standards numbers for use in self approving by confusion:
BS EN 12283:2002 – Printing and business paper. Determination of toner adhesion
DD CEN ISO/TS 11133-1:2009 Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs. Guidelines on preparation and production of culture media…
BS 3237:1960 Specification for light and medium rolling stock for mineral haulage in mines
BS AU 258:1995 Specification for elasticated straps
BS 5577:1999 Specification for table cutlery with non-metallic handles
BS ISO 4161:1999 Hexagon nuts with flange. Coarse thread
BS 6817:1991 Specification for porcelain denture teeth
BS EN 60774-5:2004 Helical-scan video tape cassette system using 12,65 mm (0,5 in) magnetic tape on type VHS. D-VHS
BS EN 4109:2006 Aerospace series. Wrenches, face spanner – (no joke) A bargain at £68!

Is that “Helmet” legal, well yes it conforms to BS 5577:1999 and BS EN 12283:2002 so its well over spec for THIS job