What Hard Hat Color Do You Need on
Your Job Site?
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Active work sites can be busy and potentially dangerous places. Hard hats
are designed to comfortably protect a worker’s head, and they can go a long
way toward helping reduce workplace injuries.
Hard hats come in such a wide variety of colors that choosing the best one
for your work site can feel a little overwhelming. However, there are some
generally-accepted industry standards that can help you provide a safer,
more organized work environment that is consistent with many other job
sites.
Here is some information about the federal standards currently in place,
what certain hard hat colors commonly represent and why you may want to
consider color-coding your workplace.
OSHA Guidelines
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) implemented
industry-wide guidelines for hard hats in the 1970s. Workers are required to
wear protective headgear in any work environment that presents the
possibility of high-heat burns, electrical injuries, falling or flying objects and
irregular or moving surfaces that could cause an impact injury.
While OSHA provides clear guidelines for which types of jobs require a hard
hat, they do not mandate which colors you should use for specific worker
roles.
Hard Hat Color Options
First patented by Bullard in 1919, one of the earliest versions of a true hard
hat came in a single color: black. The color options for modern safety
headgear have grown significantly, and many colors are available in various
shades.
Although there are variances within certain industries or job sites, here are
the generally-accepted meanings of some common hard hat colors.
White hard hat
Often easy to spot in a sea of other colors, white hard hats are usually worn
by anyone in a supervisory position, including managers, architects,
engineers and foremen.
Green hard hat
Typically worn by your site’s safety officers or inspectors, new hires and
trainees can also wear green.
Yellow hard hat
Workers who operate any heavy machinery or earth movers often wear
yellow, as well as employees doing general construction labor.
Brown hard hat
Workers who do any form of welding or other high-heat jobs typically wear
brown.
Orange hard hat
Due to its high visibility, most road construction workers wear orange hats.
They can also be given to new hires and site visitors.
Blue hard hat
Electricians and carpenters frequently wear blue hats. Interim workers and
employees in a technical advisory role can also wear blue.
Red hard hat
Firefighters other employees with emergency training often wear red hats.
Grey hard hat
These are most often issued to visitors on the work site.
Pink hard hat
These hard hats tend to be most popular with female workers. Certain
businesses may also try to discourage forgetfulness by issuing a pink hat to
any worker who accidentally left their own hard hat at home
