How to Put Stickers on Hard Hats? (The Right Way)

Working in an environment where every day you have to wear uniform meant for your safety feels boring and monotonous right?

You really don’t have any option other than wearing the clothing meant for safety. After all it’s a matter of your life! But there is definitely an option to set yourself apart from the other workers and establish your style!

Want to know how? It’s simply by applying a sticker on your hard hat matching your personality!

The correct way to apply stickers on hard hats is to open a small portion of the adhesive and place it on the spot where you want to place the sticker and use a heat gun or hair dryer while applying the sticker and keep on massaging the sticker while the application process and this will prevent buckling of the stickers.

Applying a sticker on the hard hat not only looks cool but it enables others to identify you from far in the crowd of similarly dressed workers.

Excited right?

But before that you need to the correct way of applying the sticker or else you might end up damaging your hard hat.

Don’t worry! Our today’s article is just to make the task easy for you and guide you to the correct way of applying stickers to the hard hats.

So, let’s begin….

The Correct Way of Applying Stickers to Hard Hats

Actually applying a sticker to the hard hat is quite an easy task and there is no magic to it. But it is important to carry out the process correctly or else it might damage the hard hat.

Steps to follow:

1.) At first using a rubbing alcohol or soap-water clean the area of the hard hat nicely where you want to put the sticker. This will ensure that no dirt will remain hidden inside the stickers and keep on damaging the material of the hard hat from within by reacting with the adhesive and the material of the hard hat.

2.) Next, cut the sticker in the perfect shape (or you might have a sticker which is already cut into its perfect shape) and take out half of the liner.

3.) Now only half portion of the adhesive is open. In this state place the sticker on the exact position and while you paste one side of the sticker on the hard hat, keep pulling the adhesive to the other side until it opens all.

4.) In the meantime keep rubbing the sticker while placing it on the hard hat. This will ensure that no crease is created while putting the sticker or no air bubble is left inside the sticker.

You are done! Enjoy the new look of your hard hat!

If the sticker is not put correctly there will be creases in the sticker and then you have to scratch it to take it out and this will ultimately damage the material of the hard hat. So, its very essential to follow the steps properly so that you don’t up in a mess.

Does OSHA allow the use of hard hats?

On 27^th October, 2009 in a letter to Ms. Johanna Cohan on applying sticker to hard hat, OSHA stated:

“Both 29 CFR 1910.132 and 1910.135 do not contain provisions that explicitly prohibit painting or the placement of adhesives stickers on helmet shells. However, the employer’s ability to comply with the existing requirements of these standards may be adversely affected by the painting or placement of adhesive stickers on the helmet’s shell.”

Thus, it is clear that OSHA does not encourage putting stickers on the hard hats because of some safety issues which I am going to tell you below.

Should you Apply Stickers to the Hard Hats?

As every coin has another side likewise, applying stickers on your hard hats too have some negative sides and it’s very important for you to know them.

1.) It might create a barrier at times of inspections

Hard hats require regular inspections for identifying cracks and damages in them. This is important because unknowing you might have ended up being in collision with an object and as you did not get hurt in your head you might have overlooked the damage that was caused to your hard hat while protecting you.

But the damage you overlooked might cost your life in the second collision with another object as the damaged hard hat would not be able to withstand the same impact once again. 

Now, putting a sticker on the hard hat might cause a hindrance in looking for cracks and damages because the sticker might hide the damage with its design.

2.) It might lower the protection level of the hard hat

We know that UV radiation damages the strength of the material of the hard hats. But that is unavoidable at times after all, if we are to work in the sun, you have to.

But applying sticker to the hard hats is something which entirely depends on you. Stickers use adhesives in them to stick to the hard hat.

The adhesive might react chemically with the material of the hard hat and cause damage to the strength of the material thus lowering its ability to withstand impact.

3.) Putting a sticker on the hard hat might block its surface area of visibility

Hard hats are also meant for making your head visible to the other workers from far who might be busy in handling transmission of loads and handling sharp objects.

Seeing the hard hat, they would come to know that there is a man in the place and thus be careful while dealing with objects. 

But when you apply a sticker on the rear area of the hard hat, it blocks the bright solid color to some extent and creates obstacle to the viewers. 

4.) It might be against the policy of your company

Some companies strictly refuse the use of stickers on hard hats because of safety measures. So, before applying the sticker you must be aware of whether your company allows its use or not. If no, then man you are sure to get yourself in trouble and you will really not want that right?

How do people put stickers on their hard hats without them buckling?

If you face the problem of buckling while applying hard hats stickers and want to avoid it, you can follow any one of the following ways:

• • • Use a heat gun or hair dryer while applying the stickers that will make it more pliable to apply the sticker
    • You can also take the help of scissors to cut sections on the stickers where they tend to buckle
    • Try stretching the sticker as much possible while massaging continuously while applying it
    • The easiest way is to slit the buckles so that they look creaseless

Do stickers weaken hard hats?

Stickers will not necessarily weaken the hard hats until and unless the adhesive in the sticker reacts adversely with the material of your hard hat.

But stickers might affect the performance of the hard hats in the following ways:

• • • There might be cracks and damages that have developed on the area of the hard hat where the sticker has been applied. The sticker in this case will act as a hindrance because you will not be able to check for the faults in those areas.
    • Stickers might block necessary areas of the hard hats that should have been open for view to the impending observer.

So, in order to prevent that you can opt for any of the following ways:

• • • Put the sticker at an inch of three quarters away from the edge of the hard hat
    • You can try the alternative to stickers which is pad printing
    • Look for faults on the inside area of the hat where the sticker has been applied

See also: How to Fix And Replace Different Parts of Hard Hat

What do stickers on hard hat mean?

Hard hat stickers symbolize the type of job and projects worked in the construction sites. They act as proof that a certain employee has been trained in a particular field of the job and are qualified for the post. They would also mean that an employee is trained in the handling of specific equipments in the site.

If you are looking for best hard hats for construction workers check out the video below

Safety stickers for hard hats:

The following the symbols of safety stickers and what each of them means:

Stickers for hard hard by smart design.

Before we say Adieu:

Though there are negative sides of applying stickers to hard hats, yet there is a way out to it as stated by the Australian Standard AS/NZS 1800:1998 on Occupational protective helmets:

“Before the application of the adhesive tape, advice should be sought to ensure that the tape will not degrade the shell material. Generally, self-adhesive pads or stickers have been found to not affect the shell material adversely.”

With that said, I would like to take your leave for today.

Thank you for reading our article!

Have a great day ahead and…

Work Safely!