Protect Your Noggin (feat. Rob McKinney)

When it comes to adopting new helmet solutions, it turns out that construction workers are surprisingly fashion-conscious. Today we talk to Rob McKinney about innovations in head protection. Rob is full of insight about the current state of safety practices in the construction industry.   Before we get around to helmets and hard hats, we chat about the Ford Lightning. Tyler shares about his recent experience driving a rented Ford Lightning for a few hundred miles on a trip. We discuss self-driving mode, charging challenges, and a long walk to Five Guys.     Then we move on to hard hat talk. The last couple years have brought significant developments in hard hat technology. For many years, head-protection progress in the construction industry lagged behind other sectors that have high head-injury risk. Some of the innovations that originated in the worlds of biking, snow sports, and motorsports have recently found their way into construction PPE.    We explore the differences between the old-school type 1 helmets and a range of new designs. These new designs address a broader range of impact types rather than focusing almost exclusively on impacts from above.    Rob and Eddie tap into their experiences with head protection on the baseball diamond and the ski slopes. Rob shares about a snowboarding accident, and Eddie discusses those annoying left-handed batters who are always hitting catchers and umps on their follow-through.   Then there’s the issue of appearances. Frankly, nobody wants to look goofy. This concern comes into the picture in relation to colors, overall helmet shape, and chin straps. We’ll complain about chin straps even though we’ve all had a helmet fall into the mud while we’re working on rebar or just on a windy work site.   Here are several other topics that come up in today’s talk: 

• Issues specific to particular specialties–electricians, for instance
• Milwaukee’s lamp clamp
• Gel liners to replace or complement foam liners
• Increased attention to safety on the part of CEOs
• The dilemma created by the increasing cost of helmets 
• The difficulty of establishing standards for all circumstances, environments, and even a broad range of head sizes. 
• The question of pickiness in enforcement. At what point toward the end of a project do we stop nagging?
• Bone conduction audio devices
• Augmented-reality visors

  Rob’s Megaphone Moment: Take an honest look at your company. See where you can improve the way you do things. Where is your sore spot? Where are you locked into old ways of doing things? Be willing to reflect, do some research, and then make some improvements.     Links related to this episode: 

• Procore article that gives a rundown of current helmet solutions
• FastCompany article about hard hat innovations
• Wavecel helmets
• Milwaukee’s lamp-clamp helmet
• The Ford Lightning 

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