In December, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced it was replacing traditional hardhats for its employees with ANSI-Z89.1-certified Type II safety helmets when they work on sites.

In Sweden, a partnership between MIPS Corp., a company that specializes in helmet-liner systems for protecting the brain, and Guardio Safety AB, a Swedish industrial safety firm, has led to the release in June of a construction hardhat, or helmet, designed to mitigate brain-damaging forces that often are suffered in construction falls.