Good luck bud. With the society the way it is today you’re going to be the bad guy pretty much no matter what. The immigrants will be the victims. Curious what the admin will say

Brett

 

It is federally protected and it will not be on you.

OSHA actually has guidelines.

I. Guidelines. OSHA staff shall adhere to the following guidelines.

a. There shall be no citations or other enforcement actions against employers for violations of hard hat standards when their employees fail to wear hard hats due to personal religious convictions.

b. Citations may be issued to employers of construction workers, with such convictions, for failure to instruct them about overhead hazards, as required by 29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2), as with employers of construction workers without such objections.

c. Employers of non-construction workers, with or without such convictions, should also instruct their workers about such hazards.

d. All instances of an employee's refusal to wear a hard hat, or any other personal protective equipment, due to the employee's personal religious conviction, shall be reported to the Regional Office so that such instances of refusal can be monitored.

e. Whenever a citation is being considered because of an employee's refusal to use personal protective equipment (other than a hard hat) due to a personal religious conviction, the National Office shall be contacted prior to the issuance of the citation.

 

In my line of work hard hats are required at all times. I’ve worked where the welders had to have two hard hats. Because they were not allowed to walk around with the hard hat backwards. The hard hat could only be worn backwards when welding.
I would tell these guys play by the rules, or find another trade!

 

are we talking hard hats or welding hoods?...when that turban catches a spark and they burst into flames problem solved..try calling OSHA to come to a class to explain to the students and to pass their names along just in case they get hurt...most of these 3rd work countries dont know what safety equipment is...google is your friend..take a look.. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/og/og-00003.htm&usg=AOvVaw2MWtoOhfWm3L7atg12Dhjg

 

agin:

d. All instances of an employee's refusal to wear a hard hat, or any other personal protective equipment, due to the employee's personal religious conviction, shall be reported to the Regional Office so that such instances of refusal can be monitored.

Easy peasy.


Sikh's have been around since the 1400's- your students will be fine.

 

drk; you get the prize for strangest first post on the ww. you never ever encountered anyone with a turban and now you have six students that wear them? these students refuse to remove them? all six? sounds fishy to me. the school you teach in doesn't have safety rules that everyone has to follow before they set foot in a class? what were the other arrangements that would be the turban substitute?

 

In my line of work, you do what the job site office says. Or you get two pay checks! Simple as that!

 

mine also and probably most other places too. the bosses way or the highway.

 

Don't bake a cake or don't wear welding hood- religious freedom - yeehaw!

It works both ways.


been plenty of posts from good ol Americans complaining about OSHA and now ya'll on their side?:laugh:

 

Welding helmets

 

Yes for the record we are talking about welding helmets. I do understand the hard hat rules. But I can't see how that could possibly pertain to a welding helmet. And yes, in 16 years I have never seen a welder wearing a turban. This is the first year as an instructor I have encountered this. The other instructor has been at the college for 27 years and he's never had it either. Last year we had a student that just took his turban off and replaced it with a beanie. (Or touque for us canadians lol) he did that on his own and it wasn't a problem. This year, all 6 have refused to remove the turbans. (They also barely speak english but that's another problem) Me, being a oil patch guy, my first reaction would be to tell them to kick rocks and find something else. But the admins are against that (money...) I know that there must've been some solutions found in North America to get a turban into a welding helmet. I've seen what they do in India, and that's not going to fly in my shop.

 

it's your shop so tell them it's either the turban or the flip flops.

 

My second year of welding school. First day there was three black guys talking when the instructor was talking. The instructor told them to be quiet. They didn’t, he made them get up and leave the class room. Never seen those guys again.

 

Well there has already been a argument with a few of them about the fact they have to wear steel toe boots in the shop. They have no religious backing for that lol.

 

It takes this guy a half day to put on his turban.

View attachment Sikhizm-odna-iz-natsionalnyh-religij-Indii..jpg

 

It takes this guy a half day to put on his turban.

View attachment 1691558

Well, if he's welding, and it catches on fire, it will be a month from tuesday till he figures out he's on fire.

 

My main idea now (after googling all day) is to get them to find a hrc2 or nomex material for the turban or to cover the turban and maybe a pancake hood or even better, one of those confined space helmets (leather bag)

 

If they refuse to not wear the turban and it catches on fire, how is that on you?

I wouldn't worry about it. If they catch on fire they will do something different or just keep catching themselves on fire. Not your problem. Welding is fiery work, always has been.

 

this!

 

Is there a different type of turban??? Maybe smaller or thinner materials??? Could a large size welding cab or beanie fit over it?? Maybe set a 8" pipe cap on their head to compress. Can they trade turban in for a "dot " instead.

 

Meh,, rules are rules, follow them or no welding lesson,

 

That's my first thought. However if I refuse to teach them, it'll suddenly be a prejudice issue instead of a safety issue. In Canada we unfortunately a liberal government... They don't have common sense, just "feelings".

 

You can weld with turban it Just hot hat
You can find hoods for all types of head gear.
Like any other head gear it will have burn spots from welding.
The breed and mustsash may go up flames.

Dave

 

Do you follow OSHA rules or have something similar in Canada?
If yes then you are covered if they blind themselves or set themselves on fire!
I would be looking for some way to flunk them out of the class.

 

Screw feelings wear the proper PPE or leave, this is a simple concept. If the gentlemen in question cannot comply then they must find another occupation. I personally have worked with Sikhs in the past on construction jobs and they are very hardworking and always happy. Find a way to translate the issue in a more understandable way and these guys will comply or leave, I would bet they will find a way to make it work. A possible solution would be a balaclava similar to the ones used in racing of make one of nomex or a similar material.
Regards
Dave

 

Ok, first off, the OP hasn’t given us enough pertinent information to really give any advice so anything we say is based on personal opinion or prejudice.

Are the students of Indian descent? What religion are they?

We had some Sihk flight candidates that showed up wearing the traditional turban. It was obvious that their was no way they could wear a flight helmet and the problem was approached with them. We explained that the helmets were a necessity and the turban wasn’t going to work. Much to everyone’s relief they said the turbans were merely a fashion statement and as long as they could wear head covering as was their religious order they were good with that. Basically the Sikh religion requires the hair to be uncut and kept covered. Started out by issuing them a nomex skull cap that eventually gave way to a balaclava of their preference. NO problem.

 

To be clear, as if thought I'd stated earlier in this post. (My apologies if i wasnt clear) They are Indian, also Sikhs. We have approached the students about finding a potential replacement for the turbans while welding in the shop but they have refused to remove the turbans. It is not possible according to our administration to relocate the students to another program where they do not have to wear a helmet or any other ppe. Also we do have workplace health and safety, but as we are a school we (as instructors) are ultimately responsible for the students safety. So that leaves me in the awkward situation in finding a solution to this problem. Let me be clear is saying that I don't have a problem with the students or their religious beliefs. I just have to make sure everyone is safe, and I have to cover my own *** if something were to happen.

 

tell them they must get proper safety equipment before they will be aloud to weld and since they refuse to meet you half way with wearing a thinner turban they must buy equipment to fit their head with a big turban on it...

 

So get some of those handheld welding shields and have somebody stand behind them with a CO2 or Water fire extinguisher on "fire watch"

 

Just take the suspension out of their hoods and have them weld with their dominant hand and hold the hood over their face with the other. When the class gets to tig or OA welding see how they deal with that. Have them bring an extra turban to class and wrap it around their head covering everything but their eyes.Should work fine for schooling and then let their first employer deal with it.
Boy, all those years I got bitched at for not having my hard hat on and I could have fallen back on religion!!
Mike