Have You Picked the Right Hi-Vis Workwear for Your Needs?
17 March 2016 Comments Off on Have You Picked the Right Hi-Vis Workwear for Your Needs? Latest News
High visibility workwear is an important component of Personal Protective Clothing (PPC) used more commonly on construction sites, road works and general building sectors to increase visibility and safety of workers in conditions that could be dangerous, have low lighting, poor visibility and near moving vehicles both onsite and offsite.
Many of our brands offer a broad variety of hi-vis garments ranging from vests and shirts to coveralls, jackets, pants, and head and hand protection. Businesses need to ensure that all clothing worn onsite complies with the following Australian Standards for Hi-Vis Safety Garments:
AS/NZS 1906.4: 2010
This Standard refers to the requirements for all high-visibility retro-reflective fabrics and devices for road traffic control purposes for both outdoor daytime and night time safety garments designed to be worn in situations where the workers need to be highly visible. These are classified into five classes below.
1. Class F – High daytime visibility fluorescent fabrics only.
2. Class NF – A high daytime visibility non-fluorescent material.
3. Class F (W) – High daytime visibility fluorescent fabrics that meets both the requirements for Class F and also has an optional wet weather test.
4. Class R – Retroreflective fabrics for use on garments used at night or dark conditions only.
5. Class RF – A combination of both Fluorescent and Reflective fabrics and needs to meet the requirements of both Class F and Class R.
AS/NZS 4602.1:2011
This Standard consists of visual requirements for high visibility safety garments for occupational wear by those who may be exposed to hazards from moving traffic, plant or equipment in high risk situations and are broken down into three classes shown below.
1. Class D – Designed for daytime use only and are intended to provide high visibility under daylight viewing conditions in outdoor situations and generally not effective when viewed under artificial light.
2. Class N – Designed for night time use and are intended to provide the wearer with high visibility at night when viewed under retro-reflected light, such as by drivers of vehicles using headlight illumination.
3. Class D/N – Designs for both day and night use are intended to provide the wearer with high visibility under both daylight viewing and night time viewing under retro-reflected light with both retroreflective elements on a fluorescent or other non-retroreflective high visibility background material. As a minimum, garments in this class would consist of all the requirements of both a Class D and N garment.
Is your workwear up to standard?
Sources:
Calls for protective clothing standards
Making safety garments even more protective
When you need to be seen – Hi Vis on safety
Standards for reflective gear
Tags: hivis, regulations, safety, workwear