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Comment by soperj | Hacker News Reader

I don't think anyone in the industry is going to buy a $200 hard hat.

I worked at HD Supply hardware for a bit - it’s a commercial oriented hardware store where prices aren’t even posted on the items. PPE is really expensive but companies just buy it anyway - because it’s in the budget. A “conventional” fiberglass/carbon fiber hard hat is already like $150. Cheaper than a claim I’m sure.

My only thing is I personally think eye and ear protection may be more “high impact” PPE to focus on. Surely hard hats are important but it’s less of a low hanging fruit than eye/ear - ymmv

Edit: also steel shank shoes/boots to prevent penetration from a nail

> A “conventional” fiberglass/carbon fiber hard hat is already like $150.

According to TFA:

> WaveCel hard hats cost $169 to $189, which is several times the amount for a standard hard hat and more than many premium models, including some with MIPS technology.

Fiberglass/carbon fiber are the high end models of “conventional” hard hats to which im referring. Basic ones can be as cheap as like $20. Style hard hats like ones that look like a cowboy hat are like $300.

Edit: “conventional” as being without any newer technology like wavecel

Why? Someone’s buying $100 ones: https://www.toolup.com/Milwaukee-48-73-1300-White-Vented-Hel...

And people pay for Sawstops.

It’s harder to get them to wear them than to buy them.

If the price for hard hats was $10k a piece, companies would still buy/rent them for their workers.

They're a one-time fee insurance against something that is both expensive and decently likely to happen.

It's almost impossible to work in construction for even a few years without getting one thing or the other dropped on your head. Screws, tools, or rocky substances kicked loose by someone navigating scaffolding above you may not usually be fatal, but they'd probably hurt and can take a worker out of commission for a time.

> "If I have one goal in the next few years, it's to bring the price down," Bottlang says.

A lot of commercial construction is union represented. Unions will get the best safety equipment for their members.

My work boots were $300+, ear protection 150, I'll be buying one of these soon enough.

Based on what? If the helmets don't look goofy (e.g. the NFL Guardian Caps), are bright red and have the Milwaukee logo on them construction folks will wait in line to pay that much for a helmet.

But they'll buy $200 boots?

People will buy whatever they're mandated to buy.

I think it's whatever their company pays for! If this hard hat means lower insurance costs for the company then it's just a math problem.

The company may or may not pay everything. I get a $125 shoe allowance (iirc, I haven't checked the policy in a while) every two years, but most shoes that qualify for the allowance cost more that that. Of course many years I haven't been someplace where I need to wear them, but i'm expected to have them should I every have to debug something that only happens in the factory. I wear.mine mostly at home, when I remodel I like to keep my feet.

Tradespeople generally receive PPE from their employer, safety procurement people will be the ones making the purchasing decision about something like this. I wouldn’t do business with a contractor that doesn’t provide PPE to their employees.

A skilled tradesperson costs about $100/hr in my area, $200 isn’t a lot of money when it comes to safety. Fall harnesses are hundreds of dollars, arc flash suits are thousands of dollars.

It is about 10x the cost of a regular hard hat, but lower insurance premiums could make up the $180 difference over time.

Could also be good for hiring if people see you investing in safety. I know I'd rather work for the company that's willing to spend a bit more on the safest equipment.

If it works, there will be studies that proves it, EU will make it mandatory for companies to buy this kind of hat for their workers, the price will fall.

I cannot think of many things that reduce in price once government mandates their purchase. Seat belts maybe? Although I can't find historical price information on those prior to being mandated.

Smoke detector? Although that can be linked to better technology too. I don't know tbh.

Why should we let the government mandate what we do with our own safety? I'm glad that the US is trending towards small government and fewer regulations, this is absurd.

> Why should we let the government mandate what we do with our own safety?

You do whatever you want to do with your own safety. Feel free to protect yourself anyway you like or don’t like while you are working on your own. Nobody is going to stop you.

Grab a sledgehammer and start “remodelling” your kitchen naked if you want. Stick your wet fingers into live voltage or weld with a safety squint. Nobody offical is going to show up to stop you. Not in the USA, not in the EU.

The regulations are there to make sure the tradespeople you might hire get reasonable protections. That people employed can expect to go home healthy and safe at the end of their workday.

Also on the flip side if you ever get hired to do some honest work you won’t get maimed because your employer choose to skimp on your protection to have more money they can spend on a marble kitchen countertop.

My father could wear whatever he wanted most of his woodworker/painter career, as he was a solo artisan. But when he worked at a carpenter company, the company had to give him ffp2 masks, pay him security shoes, a hard hat and leather gloves for him to work onsite.

I mean, any decent company should do that for their workers, and maybe they would've without regulations, but do you expect companies to always do the decent thing?

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