The Virginia Tech Helmet Lab is going beyond testing and rating sports helmets used in football and setting its sights on the safety performance of construction helmets.

“Identifying, improving and implementing better head protection could be the difference between life and death for some of these accidents,” said Steve Rowson, associate professor and director of the Helmet Lab, in a university blog post.

The blog cited a statistic from a 2011 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine: from 2000 to 2008, the construction industry was responsible for more traumatic brain injuries than any other.

Researchers at the university’s Helmet Lab in Blacksburg, Va., will begin an 18-month study on head impact and concussion risk in a construction work site environment, with the aim of developing the first rating system for construction hard hats and helmets.

The researchers will analyze accident reports and surveillance videos, including those submitted by contractors wanting to help with the study, to determine the conditions associated with head impacts in construction. Then researchers will simulate these conditions in their lab to test commercially available safety helmets. The data will be available to the public on the Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings website.

To derive ratings on construction helmets, the lab will use its summation of tests for the analysis of risk model, based on a helmet’s performance in a series of impact tests. The lab will then assign between one and five stars to categorize impact performance.

“We hope this work leads to fewer disabling or fatal head injuries resulting from accidents, by providing stakeholders with data to make informed decisions on equipping the workers with the most effective personal protective equipment,” Rowson said.

According to manufacturers, more construction safety helmets are sold than to all the sports combined, said in a YouTube video embedded within the university’s blog post.

“A huge number of people wear helmets, and they wear them for 8 hours a day, so there’s lots of exposure in those environments to injury risk,” said Barry Miller, the lab’s director of outreach and business development.

There are two things that make the lab very unique: all research is peer reviewed in scientific journals, and the research is independent, said Stefan Duma, head of the university’s biomedical engineering and mechanics department who founded the Helmet Lab.

The researchers also hope their methods will serve as a design tool for helmet manufacturers to make better products, Rowson said.