Availability of Hats That Meet Australian Sun-safety Standards at a Major Canberra Shopping Complex

Abstract

Good sun-safety practice includes wearing sun-protective hatsthat must meet defined photoprotective criteria such as the2017 Australian/New Zealand standard (AS/NZS 4399:2017).This study investigated the availability of sun-safe hats dur-ing a three-day cross-sectional survey in November 2019 byvisiting every shop in a single large multi-store shoppingcomplex in Australia. Hats were categorized according towhether the target customer was an adult or child prior tothe assessment of design suitability for sun safety accordingto the standard. Of the 260 shops in the study shopping cen-ter, 30 (12%) sold hats. Of the 524 hats examined in thestudy, 69% of all commercially available hats for adults andchildren did not meet the standard. Of the 9% of hats thathad swing tags claiming an Ultraviolet Protection Factor of50 (UPF-50), about half were not sun safe. Further researchis needed to investigate the possibility of whether sun-safetyhat standards should be given to retailers of hats for display,or whether manufacturers could be required to put warninglabels on all hats that do not meet sun-safety hat standards. Show more