Friday 22 November 2013

Valuable Information About High Visibility Safety Products

By Bonnie Contreras


There are numerous high visibility safety products available for people who work in conditions of low light or at night. It is common knowledge that when working in such conditions with low light, the potential for injury is high since people cannot see each other well. Therefore these high visibility materials have been made for people to wear in such conditions in order to make them more visible and avoid accidents.

The work places that require people to use these products include the following; traffic control, roadside construction, emergency response, parking lot attendants among other occupations. Persons working in such places have no other choice but to use these materials. It is also a requirement by the law that they use these equipments under OSHA therefore there are not exceptions.

The products have been made by highly reflective fluorescent materials. They also have retro reflective bands affixed to them to ensure higher levels of reflectivity. These materials when hit by light say from the headlights of a car, they reflect light energy back to the driver of a car and therefore a worker can be clearly seen by the motorist.

When it comes to protective clothing, these ones come in colors red, orange, yellow or lime green. These colors are fluorescent to reflect back light. Persons wearing such clothing are not only protecting themselves from motorists, but also from injuring one another when working. As mentioned earlier, the clothing ought to be worn whether day time or at night since some areas like construction sites there is poor light conditions due to dirt cloud.

People should also know that these protective products have been grouped into three classes to differentiate places with very poor perceptibility from those that are not very poor in lighting. Class 1 equipments are utilized in conditions where the traffic is slow and employees can see incoming and outgoing vehicles. Therefore for them, the safety vests make them noticeable. As for class 2, the speed is high and or individuals may not see incoming traffic well.

Class 3 is the highest type and this one is worn in the darkest of conditions. It aims at providing visibility at the shortest of distance to ensure that motorists in high speed stop at an appropriate distance. The equipment here include; trousers, jackets and overalls in fluorescent color and with a band. Other than the clothing, other protective equipment include the following; LED beacons, strobes and flashers, warning flags, batons, reflective tape placed at the working area to indicate a working area.

The reason why LED lights are utilized more than the normal light is because they not only provide light but they also glow. Traffic cones are also used in road construction to guide drivers not to get into construction areas. The cones are usually red not necessarily in fluorescent color as it usually used day time and clearly seen.

Therefore the importance of high visibility safety products cannot be overemphasized. But persons should not use these items only when working in the poor visibility areas, other protective equipment such as the helmets, boots should also be utilized. Individuals should however ensure to purchase high quality materials.




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