 What
hit Louise on July 19, 1995, was a piece of iron scaffolding that had
fallen 36 feet at her Rhode Island construction site. It smashed into her V-GardŽ Cap, knocked her to the ground, fractured her temple and sinus bones, and crushed the bone around her right eye. The blow exceeded the helmet's design limits, but it didn't kill her. Miraculously, it didn't even knock her out. According to Louise, what kept the iron from going through her skull was her V-Gard Cap, which she had chosen over the standard hardhat on the site, because MSA's then-60 years of experience in head protection gave her more confidence. After reading about Louise in Spotlight on Safety, John H. wrote: ". . . I was wearing my MSA hardhat when, while descending a set of concrete stairs, one step crumbled under my foot, sending me forward and down, into a steel beam--head first. "I hit my head on the beam, bounced backwards, hit my head on the concrete, and was knocked out for about 45 minutes until my co-workers found me. My hardhat has a 1˝-inch chunk out of the bill a crack in the back. Without my MSA hat, my head would have sustained this traumatic force, and I wouldn't be around to thank you." More Stories... [More Stories on Page 2 and 3] Darryl was operating a large piece of mining equipment in an underground shaft when he noticed a small crack in the roof 11 feet above him. While trying to scale the machinery down, a large section of overhead material broke loose and fell on Darryl. He was knocked to the ground and his TopgardŽ Cap was seriously damaged. Darryl received cuts, scrapes and bruises from the debris, but thanks to his Topgard Cap, more serious head injuries were avoided. Ray was working under an overhead conveyor belt that was carrying loose rock to a crusher. The belt stopped abruptly, and a rock weighing approximately 40 pounds slipped off the belt. Ray was hit in the head by the falling rock. His Skullgard Helmet was cracked by the impact of the rock, but Ray was saved from a serious head injury. Jim was working at a construction site when an 8" x 8" x 16" concrete block fell approximately 12 feet from an overhead scaffold. The block struck his head and right arm, and he was knocked to the ground. Although dizzy and bruised, he returned to work the same day. If he had not been wearing his hardhat, he most likely would have been killed. Buddy was performing service work on a utility pole when a piece of equipment fell from overhead. While the falling material did strike him on the head, his Super V-Gard Cap saved him from serious injury. An employee was moving a crane controller trolley out of a walkway when the controller suddenly became detached from its housing. Without warning, the unit fell 10 feet and hit an employee working below on the head. The employee's hard hat was destroyed, and he sustained an open head injury that required sutures to close. If he had not been wearing his cap, the impact from the falling 25-lb. device would have caused a much more severe head injury. Click here for more stories
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