Headband for Hard Hat

I recently picked up a Fenix HL55 for work. It has an elastic cloth headband that tends to slip upward on my plastic hardhat. Does anyone know of a replacement headband that is made of a more "grippy" material?

Someone at work came up with a Velcro tweak and I've been using it since. Simply stick three or four patches of Velcro on your hardhat. You want the hooky side, not the fuzzy side. Does your company provide alcohol wipes for your safety glasses? Grab a few and scrub away at the spots where you want to apply the Velcro in order to remove grease. I stick one patch on the front, and two more at roughly 120 degrees from the front patch. You could use more if you're very active but I've found 3 is plenty.

Our warehouse stocked some self-adhesive Velcro but it's not gonna cost a lot if you have to do it yourself. The hooky side Velcro doesn't fill up with dirt like the fuzzy side does. The three or four patches add almost nothing to the weight of the hardhat.

This way you leave your headlamp fully assembled. You peel the entire headband off when you don't want it on your hardhat.

I've been using the Velcro for about 5 years now. Works great.

Thanks Telkwa, that is a fantastic idea! I just pressed the Fenix headband against the Velcro in a flashlight holster, and it gripped it perfectly. Easy to do, cheap, and it wont affect the integrity or function of the hardhat. I like it!

If you need really secure attachment, they make clips that attach to the edge of the hardhat. Google "hard hat headlamp clips".

I looked into this last summer when i went offshore.

My Fenix HP12 had clips on the headband that would fit on the hardhat lip. I got some zip ties and strapped my zebralight headband into the hardhat groove, that way, i would just leave the strap on the helmet and take the light when i had to hang it up. If i were to use my integrated fenix headlight, the velcro idea sounds better.

Another idea I've been investigating is some clips that go in the groove that have a clip on them (like Yamabushi's post above). I found some on sale that were for earmuffs that i plan on modifying to grab my headband. I won't be needing it for some time though, so that project is taking a back seat.

Yet another idea is getting a rubber strap as it tends to grip the hardhat better and not ride up. One of the guys offshore had a streamlight headlamp that had a rubber strap. He used that to attach the headlamp to his hardhat.

Clm65 said:

...and it wont affect the integrity or function of the hardhat.

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Exactly. The employer provides cheap little Princeton Tec's for free. Some of my co-workers drilled small holes thru their hardhats in order to run Ty-Raps thru and attach the PT's. Some guys even took some small self-tapping screws and screwed from the inside of the hardhat into the Princeton Tec's plastic housing.

That's not OK. You're not supposed to drill holes in your hardhat. Or run screws thru it. Or paint it. Or do anything that might affect its ability to protect.

Telkwa said:

That's not OK. You're not supposed to drill holes in your hardhat. Or run screws thru it. Or paint it. Or do anything that might affect its ability to protect.

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Absolutely! Safety is the #1 focus at my company. Modifying PPE is not tolerated. The clips or the Velcro should be fine. I'm going to give the Velcro a try.

I've had the same problem; currently waiting on a spare elasticated headband to arrive in order to experiment with adding silicon sealant 'grip'.

A while ago I had goggles with lines of clear silicone on the inside of the headband to grip the back of a helmet; I'm hoping to dilute clear silicone sealant down with white spirit, stretch the headband to 50% and dab the mixture on. Once dry, it should be grippy enough to not slide off (hopefully!).

If that fails, I might go for the hideously overpriced Petzl Pixa rubber headband

I use industrial velcro. Works great and you can remove the lamp later.
The tricky part is getting the velcro to stick to the elastic head band.
Stick the velcro on your helmet, then the other half as well. Then install your elastic, remove the backing that fastens other half to the elastic, leave overnight for the industrial glue to do it's thing.

Nowadays Scotch makes high strength type that comes in pre cut squares. It's not a cactus side vs fuzzy side system but a cactus side that mates with a cactus side. And the adhesive is for indoor outdoor use as well.

I spoke to our safety manager this morning about putting Velcro on my hardhat, and I thought his response may be worth sharing.

Hardhats come in different class ratings, and may actually provide some electrical protection in addition to impact protection. For example, Class G hardhats are tested up to 2200 volts, Class E are tested up to 20000 volts, and Class C provide no electrical protection. Although the hardhats we use are Class E, if I add Velcro, or even unapproved stickers, I will need to consider my hardhat to be a Class C hardhat, and I won't be able to stick my head into electrical cabinets.

Whether this reduction in electrical protection is real or not, or if it is an overly conservative interpretation of some rule, I do not know. I don't typically stick my head in electrical cabinets, so I'm not really affected by it, but I figured I would put it out there for those that do poke their heads around electrical equipment.

I'm sure not gonna ask our safety dept. what they think about three little pieces of Velcro. Things always go sideways when they get involved.

Wow, do we work for the same company?!

I almost didn't ask. I'm actually kind of surprised they didn't flat out say I couldn't do it. I did a little more research online, and it seems that any stickers should be approved by the hardhat manufacturer. I'm sure it is easier for any company to default to a conservative position rather than contact the manufacturer anytime someone requests a sticker or Velcro on the hardhat.

As a contractor who's required to put stickers on my hardhat showing I've completed a facility's safety training prior to entering, I never knew stickers were an issue and obviously must not be. I routinely see contractors everyday with hardhats completely covered with stickers, including favorite sports team stickers. I don't think a couple little pieces of velcro are gonna affect what little electrical protection a hardhat offers.

uofaengr said:

As a contractor who's required to put stickers on my hardhat showing I've completed a facility's safety training prior to entering, I never knew stickers were an issue and obviously must not be. I routinely see contractors everyday with hardhats completely covered with stickers, including favorite sports team stickers. I don't think a couple little pieces of velcro are gonna affect what little electrical protection a hardhat offers.

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Yup. Our co. gives us little stickers for safe years, the union wants to see their colors flying, etc.

I don't know about you guys, but IMO "safety" can be used as a weapon by the company. They've gotta work thru the disciplinary system for pretty much any violation except safety. The poor souls who work directly for the safety dept. are scared of saying OK to anything that might blow up in their faces so they inevitably take the most extreme fail-safe position.

I'm reminded of one co-worker's saying: "Don't ask any question which you don't already know the answer to".

Telkwa said:

Yup. Our co. gives us little stickers for safe years, the union wants to see their colors flying, etc.

I don't know about you guys, but IMO "safety" can be used as a weapon by the company. The poor souls who work directly for the safety dept. are scared of saying OK to anything that might blow up in their faces so they inevitably take the most extreme fail-safe position.

I'm reminded of one co-worker's saying: "Don't ask any question which you don't already know the answer to".

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Safety is most definitely used as a weapon by some companies and can be used by an employer if they're looking for an excuse to fire you. Earlier in my career, I worked at a hell hole of a facility with an engineer who was somewhat "lackadaisical" in most everything he did. He future signed a safety briefing thing for some contractors that were going to literally just install some light bulbs in an office over the weekend without him being present. This was a facility where management looked for anything they could find to nail someone, particularly contractors that weren't greasing their palms in back rooms to be a preferred contractor i.e. be awarded any bid with no justification. Well the wrong person walked in that day and caught them and the rest was history, including that engineer being fired partly because they were looking for something to nail him over. Moral of the story: safety WILL get you fired, no matter how minute of an issue.

I have a HL55 attached to my hard hat. I drilled 4 1/8 holes and zip-tied the HL55 directly to my hard hat (I removed the headband). I used zip-ties because screws present an injury risk.

We have an over-reaching safety department also. Usually, safety departments are run by idiots. And I mean that whole-heartedly. I work in the traffic signal industry. So, myself and my co-workers are kind of like "electricians" which means our safety department treats us with super standards, as if we are linemen. Also, NO ONE in our safety department actually understands ANYTHING about electricity. They just regurgitate fears, myths and wives tales. If someone on the East Coast has a run-away vehicle, they start freaking out and make us use wheel chocks on our vehicles. But they themselves don't use the wheel chocks (we drive Transit Connect and Escapes).

Our biggest threat are the crazy homeless people and gangbangers. About every 2 years one of us is assaulted. We have been shot at. Does our safety department care? If that happens, they show up and ask if we had our wheel chocks on the vehicles and our PPE on. The have no input on being assaulted.

Speaking of PPE, they insist we have HV rated steel toe shoes and they have a (fortunately) un-enforced electrical glove policy (we can't do our work with gloves on, and our circuits top out at 120VAC) but yet they insist that we stand in knee deep water during a downpour and continue to do our job. What do you think the voltage rating of our PPE is at that point?? The manufacturer will state that the equipment is not rated when wet. End of story. But our safety dept. won't call us in during wet weather (Seattle, always wet).

My co-worker saw me modifying my hard hat, and started whining about it. There is no way I have violated any practical protection of my hard hat. Your hard hat gets knocked off your head by any impact that isn't directly downward (the holes are on the face of the hard hat), and any impact that could cause my modified hard hat to break would probably kill me, or at least break my neck. Regarding the voltage safety, a hard hat is not a reasonable device to protect you. The hard hat won't protect you from any stray voltage that could otherwise jump through a few drilled holes, or even just hit you in the face.

As far as safety is concerned, "there is no such thing as too safe" and their job will never be done. I understand where safety comes from, but at least in my case I REALLY wish that my work would require the safety people be actually knowledgeable!!

3M Dual Lock tape looks like a possible option.

There are a couple of rubber hard hat straps that are available inexpensively. The two look similar. They are available from a reputable dealer that I have bought several lights from over the years.

Search the internet for "Streamlight Rubber Hard Hat Strap 61003".

The first match is $3.95 plus shipping or free shipping with a $50 order. (I always find it difficult to resist not buying yet another new light.) Amazon has it too for $5.91 shipped.

Also search for "Princeton Tec Rubber Hard Hat Strap HL103".

The first match is $5 plus shipping or free shipping with a $50 order.