What Industries Are Hi-Vis Workwear Suitable For?

High vis clothing: What is it and why is it essential?

 Call it high visibility or high-vis or high-viz, they all are the names for clothes that impart high visibility of the worker to a naked eye. Usually, highly luminescent clothing which has luminescence as the natural matt property comes under high-vis clothing.

Other than that, clothing that comes in colours that are easily discernible from any background is also used to make the workwear fall under the high-vis category. Colours used for high vis clothing can provide a strong contrast against most backgrounds, whether natural or manmade.

The most commonly used colours are yellow and orange. These are made with pigments that can make them brighter than other colours since they reflect invisible ultraviolet light from the sun as a bright, visible light.

While working in hard or bad weather conditions or dim light, the workers’ visibility gets low. In times of adverse events, it becomes difficult to rescue people when they are not visible. Rain, smoke, smog, fog, dim light, evening time or night, dusk, dawn, cloudy conditions, in areas where workers might be blocked by trees, traffic barriers, or construction equipment and alike situations at workplaces impair the visibility of the worker. High-vis clothing can make the person(s) wearing them more visible than without such clothing.

Moreover, communication amongst workers as a team may get disoriented and miscommunication may lead to dangerous situations or accidents as a result of persons not being visible.

This makes high-vis clothing a form of personal protective equipment (PPE) which is necessary to be worn at job sites to alert co-workers, drivers and other equipment operators of where others are located.

Many collisions on roads and busy streets during low visibility conditions occur due to cyclists or motorcyclists not being visible. But these accidents are preventable if they wear high-vis clothing. Such clothing can increase the rider’s visibility from a greater distance at which drivers could detect and then recognise cyclists in daylight conditions.

Hence, it is important that the workers working in these conditions be furnished with high visibility protective workwear.

Industries where hi-vis workwear is requisite:

 High visibility personal protective equipment is an essential requirement by maximum workforces like that of all construction, electrical, utility, industrial personnel, engineers and others working on off-shore job sites like railway and road workers, staff working on electrified lines, airport workers, transportation industry, sanitation workers, surveyors and emergency services for first responders. Such workplaces often offer volatile environments and hazardous situations are caused by low-visibility conditions, such as, moving vehicles, rain, fog, smoke, dust, dim light, etc. that hamper a person’s visibility.

Even cyclists and motorcyclists like delivery boys and other personnel need high-vis clothing to increase their visibility while operating amongst motor traffic on public roads. During high traffic hours, dim lights or bad weather, road accidents can be prevented by making people visible during moving traffic.

Day-time visibility:

Day-time visibility standards can be checked with standards EN ISO 20471 and ANSI 107/ISEA.

Night-time visibility:

• For nighttime visibility, retro-reflective materials are used since they improve the nighttime visibility from a larger distance.
• Reflective tapes or reflectors can also be used on these clothes to improve visibility.
• The brightness, amount and placement of reflective trims also have a major role in deciding the night-time visibility of the worker. 360-degree reflectivity ensures maximum visibility with reflective trims. And they are best placed in the shoulder area.
• Multiple bands may have minimum possible gaps.
• Distance of bands from the edge of the garment should also be kept at a minimum for maximum reflectivity.

Use of reflective tapes in high vis clothing:

 Though reflective tapes or strips may be required for some workplaces and some particular working conditions, they are not recommended with every high-vis clothing. They are considered optional for low light or dark conditions. But workplaces, where there is optimum light can use high vis clothing without reflectors.

This is because the use of reflective tapes may lead to retinal damage since they can reflect as much as 82% of the source light. Professions like aircraft pilots, truck/bus drivers, heavy machinery operators may need high-vis safety wear but not essentially the ones with reflective tapes.

Standardization for high-vis clothing:

Random clothes cannot be regarded as high-vis clothing. They need to comply with certain specifications to meet the standards. Most common standards that are followed by many countries while manufacturing, importing or exporting PPE come with the names, EN ISO 20471; ANSI 107; AS/NZS 1906.4

It is best to buy standardized workwear since standardization is an assurance of the functional properties of the apparel. Only the workwear that meets the criteria and qualifies all tests by meeting the specifications get a certification.

EN ISO 20471:

This came as a standard from The International Organization for Standardization in 2013. EN ISO 20471 standard came as an up-gradation of its previous versions EN510 quick release standard and the EN471 with better features for high visibility. Improved effectiveness contributes to improved safety for all workers. This certification ensures maximum daytime visibility.

AS/NZS 4602.1:2011:

This is an Australian/New Zealand Standard for high vis clothing requisites and regulations to follow.

Canadian Standards: Z96-15:

These are recognized by the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) to prevent occupational accidents which are common at workplaces but can be prevented to a high degree with the right workwear.

RIS-3279-TOM:

Rail Industry Standard RIS-3279-TOM (fluorescent orange) high-visibility clothing is the standard followed by railways in the United Kingdom and has made it mandatory for all rail staff to be wearing high-vis clothing when on duty.

ANSI 107/ISEA:

This standard was brought into force in 1999 by the American National Standards Institute. The International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) developed the pre-existing standard and improvised it with revisions in 2004, 2010 and 2015. These guidelines recommend the most likely colours to be used for high-vis safety workwear.

ANSI/ISEA 207:

This came with further specifications for improving the visibility of the wearer. Some of the parameters addressed by this standard include different requirements for fluorescent background material, especially access to equipment belt access at a shorter distance. Other features included are a 5-point breakaway design for easy removal, panels. These improve the identification of the wearer so that responder can identify it immediately.

Regulation (EU) 2016/425:

This covers the directives by the European Union for high vis clothing.

North American hunting regulations:

These regulations state the hunters to be wearing blaze orange. This can prevent shooting accidents by making the hunters differentially visible from the game animals.

Even dirt can hamper the worker’s visibility. Treatment of luminescent clothes with Teflon makes them dirt-resistant and hence improve upon the visibility.

Types of apparel that come as high-vis apparel:

The most common types of high-vis clothing are high-vis vests. However, due to them being successful in preventing various accidents at work sites, different workers in different work environments and with different occupational hazards need varied options in high-vis apparel.

And therefore, at Xinke Protective Technology Co. Ltd, one can find several options of high-vis clothing like high-vis vests, jackets, coveralls, pants, and even smaller items like gloves and caps. Besides, the company also has customization options with a huge manufacturing facility and a fully furnished warehouse.

Choosing the best high-vis workwear:

 The key to choosing the best high-vis workwear is to use the one that suits the work environment but does not get blend in it and this is possible with contrast colours. Then, you need to look for the natural workplace environment (rain, fog, smoke, smog, temperature, humidity, etc.), the natural visibility conditions (day, night, dusk, dawn, dim or low light) and the occupational environment (hazards from flashes, flames, fires, smoke, dust, mist, liquids, etc.) where the worker can work comfortably with an assurance that he/she is safe.

For comfort, the high-vis apparel comes in different sizes and you may need to give your employees the best fit since comfort at the workplace is of utmost importance. Worker’s safety and productivity both depend on how comfortable he/she is and how secure does he/she feel with safe workwear.