If you spend most of your time on a construction site, you'll know that hitting your head can be part of the job. Most of the times it's just minor stuff like bumping your head on something, but sometimes it can be harder and therefore a lot more dangerous. Common accidents can be hits to the side, falling objects, slips, trips or falls.

All of which can be angled impacts. Most angled impacts create a rotational movement. Problem is, the traditional helmets are designed for straight impacts and that's why MIPS invented the low friction layer. The thing is, it's not always complicated accidents that may cause traumatic brain injuries. Rather it may be accidents like objects striking the helmet from the side, falling objects hitting the helmet from above, or simply you taking a tumble.

You might think accidents and brain injuries like these are rare on construction sites, but unfortunately the numbers speak for themselves. Statistically, there is a high risk for suffering traumatic brain injuries when you're working on a construction site. Our brains consist mostly of water. The brain and the cerebrospinal fluid fills up most of the skull, pretty much like the fluid in this water is incompressible.

Which means the brain will not move much by a linear force from a straight impact. However, in most angled impacts, rotational force is introduced to the head. Rotational forces to the head cause the brain to rotate inside the skull. This causes a relative movement between the skull and the brain, which can cause strain in the brain. Strain in the brain is not good and can cause something called the TBI.

Traumatic brain injury MIPS low friction layer is designed to help reduce rotational forces caused by angled impacts. Let's look at some of our research simulating common real life accidents. In our first example we have a falling object. Look at how the MIPS layer allows the helmet to move relative to your head, causing less movement of the head on impact.

This means less rotational force from the impact is likely to have been transferred to your head. This is the purpose of the MIPS system to decrease the rotational force on impact and help reduce the risk of brain trauma. We also use the MIPS Virtual Test Lab to really understand the head kinematics during the fall. In these simulations we see a good effect of the MIPS low friction layer.

Whether it is from falling, striking your head against an object, or getting hit by a falling object, most angled impacts create a rotational energy and may cause strain in the brain. So choose a helmet equipped with the MIP safety system designed to help reduce rotational forces to the head in angled impacts.