Tagged with 'retro-reflective'

About Hi-Visibility Clothing

Construction workers and emergency services personnel, along with cyclists and joggers most commonly wear high-visibility clothing. You can find high-visibility clothing in most stores and catalogs that sell work wear or bicycle equipment. Such hi-vis apparel enables people to see the wearer in poor lighting conditions or while on the job, to prevent accidents. One of the most traditional forms of this product, a fluorescent orange or yellow vest with reflective stripes, makes the wearer stand out at night.









ANSI Class 3 Lightweight Waterproof Rain Jackets

In the United States, high-visibility safety clothing must meet standards created by ANSI/ISEA, which mandate as of 2010 that "a garment's background material, and retro reflective or combined-performance material, must be tested and certified by an independent, accredited third-party laboratory." Makers of such clothing must verify and certify that the apparel meets the standards.

In the 1930's, 3M realized that spherical beads that made the silver screen silver could create a reflective strip of paint, and then tape. In 1968, brothers Hugh and Bill Rowland at the Reflexite company began processing reflective sheeting using small cube-cornered prisms, instead of spheres. Both shapes remain in use to this day.

The fluorescent color makes the wearer visible during the day, while the reflective strips make it more likely the motorists will see him at night, increasing his safety. A 2004 paper in the British Medical Journal showed that motorcyclists were 37% less likely to be in an accident when wearing fluorescent and reflective clothing. And, according to high-visibility vest seller ICU-UCMe, nighttime motorists see a vest wearer approximately three seconds earlier than they see someone not wearing a vest. Emergency services personnel wear high-visibility clothes to be clearly seen in dark or smoky conditions.

High-visibility clothing comes in three classes, determined by the American National Standards Institute and International Safety Equipment Association (ANSI/ISEA). Class I garments, typically worn by parking lot attendants, attract motorists' attention, while Class II garments meet higher visibility needs, with employers typically providing them for people such as airport baggage handlers. Class III, the most effective type, ranks as the highest visibility clothing, often used by emergency services.
Hi-Vis Supply can serve all of your hi-vis apparel needs including the Black Series Windbreaker by ML Kishigo.

This article came from Effectiveness of High Visibility Clothing by Ishbel Macleod, eHow Contributor updated: July 06, 2010

The Importance of High Visibility Workwear










4-Season Ultra-Cool Adjustable Mesh Vests

Wearing safety vests is one of the best ways to make sure that you won't be injured on the job, in the parking lot, on the highway - even on a bike or motorcycle. You can protect yourself from injury or even death simply by donning a very lightweight, safety orange or lime vest with reflective striping based on the area you're working in and the speeds of the vehicles and machinery around you.


Manufacturers make it from brightly colored retro-reflective material, and since the visibility of any driver is impaired at night, drivers may might not see people on the road while looking generally for other obstacles and being blinded by oncoming traffic.


Reckless drivers can also easily hit a pedestrian even when they are on the pedestrian walk, so to avoid such accidents from happening, even pedestrians are encouraged to wear reflective clothing to make them more visible. As long as a person is wearing the clothing every driver that passes them will notice their presence. It is really hard for the item to blend into any surrounding so it will adequately serve its purpose.

But accidents are not restricted to the highway - employees also get injured at work, with the end result typically due to failure to adequately protect themselves. During construction, every person who is on site has to wear the reflective clothing. The piece of clothing is a major part of their equipment so it should never be ignored. Construction workers run the risk of being hit by drivers or being wounded at their place of work. This means that their employers need to make it their prime concern to keep them safe.
Protective gear comes in many colors such as neon, yellow, orange and green, and many combinations of striping especially for particular professions such as highway workers, crossing guards and surveyors. A person can choose whichever size or shape they find appealing. It is very hard for a person to get injured when they have the clothing on.


At HiVis Supply, you can choose from hundreds of safety vests - Class 1, 2 and 3, flame-resistant, mesh, sleeves and no sleeves - the choice is yours. Or choose a hi visibility hat or t-shirt depending on the climate and situation you find yourself in. Many employers will have you overprotected just in case, and some employers leave it up to their workers to decide which vest to choose. we just want you to make the right choice, and keep yourself safe while working hard out there.
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