A safety colleague of mine, Daniel Lo, posed an interesting question in a SafetyAtWorkBlog comment
“Are there any scientific studies of the crash impact that a turban could take compared to that of a regulated helmet?”
I would extend that to hard hats, motorcycle helmets and bicycle helmets.
Let me pose a scenario that may help focus discussion. If I was wearing a turban and someone hit me on the head with a hammer, would I receive the same level of harm as if this happened whilst I was wearing a hardhat?
Daniel has posed a terrific question and I hope someone can help.
There are a lot of issues related to the wearing of turbans instead of helmets. I think a good brief discussion of the issue of Turbans and helmets can be found at http://www.helmets.org/turbans.htm
Another issue occurred in Canada where the riding of a motorbike with a turban instead of a helmet was discussed in court. The argument was that a turban could unwrap in high winds. The article did not discuss the issues of a turban as a safe replacement for a motorcycle helmet.
Basic information about turbans can be found at the SikhWiki
this explains why one project manager was allowed to wear his turban instead of a hardhat on a site i worked on years ago…
it seemed odd at the time, but i never even thought of the turban having any protective status…