High visibility clothing

High-visibility and reflective clothing is one of the basic elements in certain work environments where there is a risk of being run over. Run over by moving vehicles or machinery is one of the most frequent accidents and, therefore, it is necessary to take appropriate measures to protect workers when they are exposed to traffic, emergency situations and when visibility is low.

Law 31/1995 on the Prevention of Occupational Risks  requires that employees who are exposed to the risk of being run over wear these high visibility equipment. And how can operator visibility be improved? The key is that there is greater contrast between the clothing and the background plane. To this end, three classes of high visibility clothing are established (Class 1, 2 and 3), which means that the higher the class, the higher the level of protection.

If you need to buy these protective equipments, visit our high visibility clothing section, where you will find overalls, bibs, trousers, jackets, vests and other garments to increase the visibility of workers.

What materials are the high visibility garments made of?

Hi-visibility garments are basically made of fluorescent materials (most commonly used during the day) and retroreflective materials (for night use).

Fluorescent

Fluorescent colours increase visibility mainly during the day and can be: yellow, orange red and red. It is known as background material.

Retroreflective

The property of retroreflection helps the human eye to perceive light in poor lighting conditions, i.e. at night. The reason why this type of material is used is that the reflected light returns directly to the original light source; for example, the headlights of a car.

Occasionally, clothing is made of a combined material that has the properties of fluorescence and retroreflection. This is the case of class 1 garments, which have background material, retroreflective material and combined material. For Class 2 and Class 3 garments, the regulations require an increasing surface area of bottom and retroreflective material.

What kind of hi-visibility garments are there?

Hi-visibility garments can range from the typical overalls, jackets and vests. The regulations state that retroreflective bands must be at least 5 centimetres wide.

As previously indicated, garments are classified by 3 classes, as indicated in the guide of the Ministry of Labour.

High Visibility Clothing Class 1

This type of clothing is used when the worker must be seen by automobiles as parking attendants or warehouse workers in which there is traffic. In these cases, the vehicles we are talking about must not be driven at more than 40 km/h.

High-visibility clothing Class 2

They provide greater protection than Class 1 and are used in more hazardous conditions (cars driving at more than 40 km/h, tasks that do not allow the worker to be so attentive to traffic...) or worse weather conditions. This is the protection often used, for example, by accident investigators, drivers of delivery vehicles or luggage carriers at airports.

High-visibility clothing Class 3

Finally, high-visibility clothing of this kind is intended for the professions most at risk of being run over. They respond to high work loads in hazardous areas, bad weather conditions and higher speeds in traffic at 80 km/hour. For example, it is used by road construction and signalling personnel.