High-visibility clothing, a type of personal protective equipment (PPE), is any clothing worn that has highly reflective properties or a color that is easily discernible from any background. Yellow waistcoats worn by emergency services are a common example.
Part of the surface of the garment may have retroreflective stripes. This way they become much more visible in the dark for observers near a light source, such as the driver of a car with its headlights on. The pattern of the retroreflecting parts also helps to distinguish between objects and people.
For greater visibility during the daytime, very bright colors are used for the main body of the garment by means of fluorescent material.
A related type of PPE corresponding to maximizing visual awareness in dangerous environments is head gear mounted mirrors. They allow the wearer to see potential dangers rather than just being seen.
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Users
In general, people who wear high-visibility clothing are those who need to be seen during poor lighting or weather conditions, or when working in environments where there is a lot of moving machinery.
Examples include pedestrians, workers, cyclists, motorcyclists, hunters and hikers.
The attention-gaining nature of high-visibility clothing has also led to its occasional use as a fashion statement.
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
- Bicyclists – see Bicycle safety
- Construction workers
- Emergency responders
- Equestrians, especially mounted search and rescue
- First Aid staff including search and rescue
- Fishermen
- Hunters
- Linemen
- Meter readers
- Motorcyclists - see Motorcycle safety
- Parking attendants
- Pedestrians
- Ravers
- Rail workers
- Surveyors
- Police
- Film and TV crews (when needed)
- ground handling personnel on airside
- pilot
Federal law in the United States requires all personnel working on a federally funds eligible highway to wear a high visibility vest starting on November 25, 2008. Firefighters are only excluded from this requirement while actively engaged in firefighting activities or hazardous materials situations. At all other times, high visibility clothing must be worn. In addition, paramedics, police officers not engaged in law enforcement activities (i.e. traffic stops), tow truck operators, and road workers are required by law to wear high visibility clothing.
In the UK, Health and Safety regulations state that anyone working in a low visibility environment, or where there is a risk of not being easily seen, High Visibility clothing must be worn. An example is given below:
Application for rail workers in the UK
High visibility clothing was first introduced on BR`s London Midland Region in 1965. It was thought to be more important due to the higher speeds and quieter locomotives of the newly electrified WCML route from Euston to Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham. The first version was worn as a jerkin and was "visible at half a mile in normal weather conditions" (Railway Magazine Nov 1965 p 668). In the UK, it is a requirement of Network Rail that all personnel working on or around the track wear High Visibility clothing (or HV gear as it is known). The number of deaths and injuries on the rail network has been reduced considerably since the early 1970s when High Visibility clothing and the acceptance of the need for it became common. HV Clothing then was very low tech, usually just a simple yellow or orange tabbard (similar to those worn in netball).
Since then, features of HV clothing such as the EN510 quick release standard and the EN471 High Visibility standard, have improved the effectiveness and contributed to improved safety for rail workers.
High visibility elements have been incorporated into many styles of jacket and other items. These can include:
- Wet weather coats (both breathable and non breathable)
- Over trousers (both breathable and non breathable)
- Rucksacks
- Laptop bags
- Carry bags
- Shopping bags
- T-Shirts and Polo Shirts
- Waist coats (both with the EN510 standard and without, as well as flame retardant types)
- Body warmers
- Fleeces
- Sweatshirts
- Bomber jackets (both breathable and non breathable)
- Boiler suits (both fire retardant and non)
- Salopets
Many of the garments listed also come with Goretex.
High Visibility clothing can also be embroidered or printed with names or logos.
Gallery
 Firefighters wearing coats with high-visibility strips |
 Retroreflective material in light microscope, magnification 3.5 x |
 Retroreflective material in light microscope, magnification 8 x |
 Retroreflective material in light microscope, magnification 20 x |
 Retroreflective material in Scanning Electron Microscope, magnification 15 x |
 Retroreflective material in Scanning Electron Microscope, magnification 200 x |
 Reflective bag as used during the day in a dark area |
 Two shots of Crossing Guard clothing in normal light, and when a light source reflects off the hi-viz stripes. |
Effectiveness
While it seems intuitively obvious that high-visibility clothing should make its wearer easier for vehicle operators, hunters, etc., to see and avoid, there are surprisingly few studies to quantify the effectiveness of high-visibility clothing for particular classes of users.
Motorcyclists
The Hurt Report and a New Zealand study[1] found that high-visibility clothing significantly reduced multiple vehicle accidents involving motorcycles.
Bicyclists
Traffic risks to the bicyclist are similar to those faced by motorcyclists (see SMIDSY), with the main differences being that bicycling speeds are typically lower, and the bicyclist wears less protective gear. Nonetheless, there seems to be even less research on the effectiveness of high-visibility clothing for the bicyclist than for the motorcyclist. However, a number of vendors market high-visibility clothing for bicyclists. From a good vantage point along a road or cycleway with a sight line of 1 km or more, one can watch bicyclists approaching during daylight, and see that those clad in high-visibility clothing become readily visible long before dull-clad bicyclists riding next to them. Research is needed to quantify the extent to which this plainly evident conspicuity advantage might translate into fewer bike/car collisions.
Drivers
Bulgarian, Belgian, Finnish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Austrian, Portuguese, Slovakian, Slovenian and Spanish law demand that every vehicle is provided with a high-visibility vest with reflective material certified according to EU standards that is to be worn in emergency situations that force the driver to exit the vehicle. Contrary to common belief, the driver is not required to exit the vehicle wearing high-visibility clothing. However, the law demands that the driver wear it before any attempt to repair the vehicle.
In Germany and the Czech Republic only commercial used vehicles have to provide a vest.
Standards
Various ISO member bodies have published similar standards for high-visibility clothing to be worn as personal protective equipment.
ANSI/ISEA 107-1999
The American National Standards Institute published a standard[2] for high-visibility clothing in 1999. The standard defines three classes of successively more-visible garments, to protect workers exposed to successively higher levels of risk from motor vehicles and heavy equipment.
ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 is a voluntary industry consensus standard; however, Occupational Safety regulations support its implementation by employers whose employees are at risk from motor traffic or heavy equipment.
ANSI/ISEA 107-2004
ANSI revised the standard in 2004.[3]
ANSI/ISEA 207-2006
In 2006, ANSI released the 207-2006, or American National Standard for High-Visibility Public Safety Vests, in response to issues raised by public safety officials with respect to the ANSI 107 vest design. Their concerns were both tactical and influenced by a need to differentiate between law enforcement/emergency personnel and the vests worn by construction workers. The changes have different requirements for fluorescent background material, specifically allowing for a shorter design that allows equipment belt access. It also includes many optional features, such as a 5-point breakaway design for easy removal, panels readily identifying the wearer as an emergency responder, and radio and badge pockets/holders.[4]
BS EN 471:2003
The British Standard for high visibility clothing.[5]
Clothing must comply with the EN471 High Visibility Specifications.
There are three levels of protection:
Class 1 Class 1 defines the lowest visibility level e.g. High Visibility trousers with two 5 cm reflective bands around each leg. These become Class 3 when worn with a Class 3 jacket.
Class 2 The class 2 defines an intermediary visibility level. Example: vests. Two 5 cm bands of reflective around body or on one 5 cm band around body and braces to both shoulders.
Class 3 The class 3 defines the highest level of visibility. Example jacket with long sleeves, jacket and trouser suit. Two 5 cm bands of reflective tape around the body, arms and braces over both shoulders.
89/686/EEC
A European Commission directive which covers high visibility clothing.[6]
CSA-Z96
The Canadian Standard for high visibility clothing.
See also
- Chartreuse yellow (also called neon yellow)
- Display (zoology) - high visibility in nature
- Safety orange (also called blaze orange, hunter orange)
- Scotchlite
- Retroreflective
References
- ^ Susan Wells et al. (April 10, 2004). "Motorcycle rider conspicuity and crash related injury: case-control study". BMJ. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7444/857. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
- ^ "ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel". eLCOSH. http://www.elcosh.org/docs/d0600/d000627/d000627.html. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
- ^ "ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 MADE EASY: A Quick Reference to High-Visibility Safety Apparel". 3M. http://multimedia.mmm.com/mws/mediawebserver.dyn?6666660Zjcf6lVs6EVs666NA8COrrrrQ-. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
- ^ "[http://www.reflectivevest.com/ansi207standard.html ANSI/ISEA 207-2006: American National Standard for High-Visibility Public Safety Vests]". Iron Horse Safety. http://www.reflectivevest.com/ansi207standard.html. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- ^ "High Visibility Standards". Bicycle Safety Online Shop. http://www.beseenonabike.com/bsoab/beseenonabike_legal_standards.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
- ^ "Council Directive 89/686/EEC of 21 December 1989 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to personal protective equipment". 1989-12-21. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31989L0686:EN:HTML. Retrieved 03 2 4 2008.
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