I love hats! You’ll never see me anywhere without my own special red and white stripey hat. Did you know that you can sometimes tell what a construction worker does for their job, just by looking at the color of their hard hat? Now when you watch the workers, you might be able to guess what they’re working on from this clue. Different colors help everyone know who does what, and also know where everyone is. That’s helpful on a big construction site. Sometimes workers need to be tested and licensed to do certain jobs before they can wear the correct colored hard hat. A hat can tell you a lot about someone!

How many different colored hard hats do you see on the construction site today?

• White hat: Sellen Construction foreman. They lead the work crews and manage what’s happening. They give instructions to other workers, and make sure things are done right. Sellen Construction is the company managing the Building Hope hospital expansion. The people in white hats also carry special 2-way radios, so they can talk to each other from far away. They are the supervisors.

• Green hat: Labor force work crew. They are general workers, and they work hard. We couldn’t make buildings without them. They hammer, drill, screw, grind, glue, wash, sort, move, push, pull, dig, climb, lift, fix, carry, build things and they make it all happen. You might see lots of green hats!

• Blue hat: Plumber. They work with pipes and systems that move water and other liquids, like your sinks, bathtubs and toilets at home. Some pipes are small. Some are huge! Blue is a good color for plumbers, since they work with water. Blue is the color of the ocean, or water in a swimming pool, so it makes perfect sense.

• Yellow hat: Electrician. They work with electrical wiring and power. Electricity powers things like your lights, TVs, computers and appliances at home. In a hospital, electricity runs all those things plus everything from X-ray, ultrasound and MRI machines, to your nurse’s call light, a patient’s heart monitor, or even a pump that brings you medicine. Electricity is everywhere! It travels through buildings inside thousands of wires. There are so many wires in some parts it looks like great big computer spaghetti!

• Brown hat: Iron worker. They work with metal construction, like welding and building the metal parts. Inside any building is tons of iron, steel and metal. Sometimes iron workers help build the “bones” of the building, the foundation skeleton that holds the building together. Look at all the metal you can see in the construction site. We couldn’t have a building without iron workers!

Here are some other hats that people might wear for working. Their hat identifies them. Can you name any more?

• Fireman hat

• Police hat

• Football helmet

• Chef hat

• Cowboy hat

• Miner’s hat

• Baseball hat

• King or queen’s crown