Hard hats are the team headgear of working-class America — the people who built the United States with their bare hands. The people who still build the USA today. Tip your safety cap to Edward W.

The plastic hard hat is one of the most recognizable pieces of equipment on any construction site. That’s partly because of safety regulations that require workers to wear them. But it’s also because ...

It could be said that most professions have at least one definitive article of clothing — something that makes them readily identifiable by bystanders at a quick glance. One of the most distinctive ...

During World War I, death occurred on an apocalyptic scale in the killing fields of Europe. The advent of continuous-fire machine guns and modern artillery with high-explosive shells obliterated ...

This column by former Nevada state archivist Guy Rocha first appeared in the Reno Gazette Journal on Aug. 29, 2004. No, the hard hat was not invented for construction workers on the Hoover Dam project ...

While some have an office job sitting in an air-conditioned room, HVAC workers go out there, face the dust, and work on the go — often in dangerous conditions. While working in the field has its own ...

The hard hat was designed 100 years ago as protective gear for miners and other laborers, but it has grown to become a symbol of status and masculinity. The original ...

A new generation of hard hats is promising better protection against on-the-job concussions, also known as mild traumatic brain injuries. These hard hats incorporate technology that not only protects ...

In the days after May 4, 1970, the date the Ohio National Guard killed four unarmed Kent State University students protesting the Vietnam War, anti-war activists were galvanized. In demonstrations ...

Editor's Note: We received a ton of comments in a very short time challenging our assumption that wearing a hard hat "backwards" means wearing it with the bill facing to the rear, and "forwards" means ...