Construction Safety Vests And Other High Visibility Gear

Security guards, crossing guards, road maintenance personnel and builders are among those who use construction safety vests and other high visibility (Hi Vi) clothing. Children walking to and from school, cyclists and hunters also use this sort of gear. Most is colored brightly, sometimes fluorescent, and accented with silver reflective tape.

Stand Out

People wear Hi Vi clothing because they want to be seen from a distance. This is most often because of vehicular traffic. Hunters, on the other hand, wear bright clothing to stand out fro their surroundings and not be shot at by their fellow hunters. Fluorescent green, yellow and orange are easily visible in the daytime. During the evening hours, reflective tape helps the wearer become more visible because the tape is reflected brightly in the headlights of passing automobiles. If the tape is affixed to parts of the body that are in motion, like the legs of cyclists, this increases their visibility considerably.

On The Site

Tabards, or vests, are worn by workers walking around on building sites. This helps them to be seen by drivers of vehicles like forklifts, trucks and so on. If there are a lot of people working on a site and a large amount of vehicle traffic, the environment can be very hectic and the tabards help the workers stand out.

On The Railway

People working on the railway are particularly vulnerable, particularly if they are repairing track or signals where there may be trains passing nearby. A train possess a great deal danger and they move at high velocity. This produces a lot of momentum and momentum is not good for human beings. To make sure they are visible from as far away as possible, they wear bright fluorescent orange jackets and trousers adorned with large amounts of reflective tape.

Colors

Safety vests are sometimes color coded according to the environment in which they will be worn. Orange is okay for traffic travelling more than 25 miles per hour (mph), while yellow is used where nearby traffic is going to exceed 55 mph.

Waterproof

High-visibility clothing is waterproof as well as easy to see from a distance. Jackets come in bomber and parka styles. Bomber jackets are shorter, around hip length, compared to parka jackets that may go down to the wearer's thigh. Either of these two styles is possible to get with a fleece lining. These garments, in particular jackets, need to be laundered carefully if placed in an automatic washing machine, as the pockets fill with water. Because the material is waterproof, it is possible to end up with a pocketful of water on the floor.

Other Gear

Trousers also come in Hi Vi materials. They are available in a wide range of sizes, down to children's. When they are worn in tandem with a Hi Vi jacket,the wearer is completely protected from the elements.

High visibility clothing, including construction safety vests, make it easy for drivers of motor vehicles to see the wearer from a distance in bad weather and after dark. It is available in specialist shops that cater for workmen and over the Internet. Construction workers and emergency services personnel usually wear lime green, fluorescent orange or lemon yellow reflective safety vests.