Why Is a Breakaway Safety Vest the Right Choice?

Breaking away at the right time can feel like a lifesaver. A vacation that hits just when you’re about to burn out, the joy of the weekend after a crazy week, or even just sinking into your favorite TV show after a busy day. 

But, in the case of breakaway safety vests, breaking away at the right time can quite literally save you from death or serious injury. Breakaway safety vests are designed to keep your safety vest from turning into a dangerous liability in certain types of jobs. It’s vitally important to know if your job is one of these and to come packing a breakaway vest if it is. What’s up with breakaway safety vests, and why do we recommend them for industrial and construction workplaces? It’s time to learn the art of breaking away. 

What Is a Breakaway Safety Vest?

A breakaway safety vest is a type of high visibility vest that’s designed to prevent a worker from getting entangled in moving equipment or machinery. When a strong force pulls on a breakaway vest, the vest will automatically detach its fasteners, allowing the worker to get out of the vest more easily. The two key mechanical components of a breakaway safety vest are: 

• Five-Point Breakaway Construction: Breakaway safety vests are designed with five fastening points—on top of the shoulders, at the front, and on the side seams. This key design feature is what allows the vest to detach if it becomes caught on heavy machinery or vehicle parts. 
• Hook and Loop Fasteners: Breakaway safety vests almost always use hook and loop fasteners. That’s because these fasteners have a firm hold that keeps the vest in place on the job while remaining easy to pull apart with a little effort. In an emergency caught-in situation, the hook and loops will detach and allow the vest to simply fall off the worker’s body. 

Combined, these features create a clever mechanism that makes sure that the vest is all that gets pulled into the entanglement hazard rather than the worker. 

GSS Safety 1801/1802 HiVis Class 2 Breakaway Mesh Safety Vest Do I Need a Breakaway Safety Vest?

If you work around any kind of potential entanglement hazards and have to wear a safety vest at work, there’s a good chance that a breakaway safety vest might be right for you. The most common types of occupations where a breakaway safety vest is required include:

• Construction workers
• Utility workers
• Factory workers
• Transportation workers
• Emergency workers and first responders

In any of these job types, a worker with the wrong type of safety vest could get their vest caught in machinery. That can result in a worker being pulled into machinery or dragged by a vehicle if they can’t get their vest off. However, it’s still important that these workers wear safety vests to keep them visible to equipment operators. Thus, the compromise of the breakaway safety vest. 

First responders such as EMS, firefighters, and police also sometimes wear breakaway safety vests. People in these jobs often have to move through tight spaces, climb fences, or perform other job functions where it’s easy for a vest to become snagged and create a dangerous situation. If these first responders are required to wear safety vests while on the job, a breakaway vest is often the best choice. 

Breakaway Safety Vests from HiVis Supply

HiVis Supply is the professional’s choice for all kinds of hi vis clothing, and we’ve got a great selection of ANSI 107 rated breakaway vests to help keep you safe on the job. These are some of the best models of breakaway vests that we offer: 

• GSS Safety 1801/1802 HiVis Class 2 Breakaway Mesh Safety Vest: A breathable and comfortable ANSI Class 2 vest at an economical price point. 
• GSS Safety 1803/1804 HiVis Class 2 Expandable Breakaway Contrast Mesh Vest: An ANSI 2 vest perfect for hot weather work that features an expandable waist and pockets for your pencils and cell phone. 
• GSS Safety 2705 Class 3 HiVis Reflective Breakaway Safety Vest: A high-contrasting ANSI Class 3 Vest equipped with abundant pockets to enable you to work both safer and smarter.  
• National Safety Apparel VIZABLE FR Class 2 HRC 1 HiVis Breakaway Mesh Safety Vest: A mesh safety vest designed with self-extinguishing FR material, plus a D-ring for fall protection and ANSI-2-rated performance. 

Breakaway safety vests are just some of the many kinds of safety vests that HiVis Supply offers to our customers. See our full selection of high-visibility safety vests to find the perfect vest to keep you safe and seen on the job.