High Visibility – Health and Safety Law
High Visibility Workwear and Vests – Health and Safety Law and the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.
A4 are often asked a variety of questions by our suppliers regarding the health and safety laws relating to high visibility workwear, vests, jackets and trousers. We’ve compiled some more information to help our current and new clients but we must remind you that this is our interpretation. If you have any further questions, please contact the HSE or your local relevant government body.
High visibility clothing including high vis vests, high vis jackets and high vis trousers are primarily covered by the British Standard BS EN 471. If you are buying any high vis clothing for your employees, they must have this certification. Of course, it is a bit more complex because certain types of work require more visibility because they are more dangerous and the certification requirements are more stringent.
As a brief explanation, the standard is split into two parts and you should be aware of what each part means. The first is the level of conspicuousness, the amount of the garment in terms of surface area that is covered by conspicuous materials such as the reflective strips. There are three classes, 1, 2 and 3 with 1 having the lowest levels of conspicuous materials and 3 having the highest levels of conspicuous materials. The second part of the class relates to the reflectivity of the garment, this is split into two classes with class 1 being less conspicuous than class 2. When viewing the garments online or in brochures, the garments are often listed in a similar manner to this description; “High Visibility Long Sleeved Vest – Certified to EN 471 Class 3:2”. This means that the garment is a class 3 for the level of conspicuousness and level 2 for the degree of reflectivity. In short, this has high levels of reflectivity and surface areas covered by conspicuous materials.
Now that you can understand the jargon, what type of class should you choose? This really depends on the job and the degrees of risk within the job. A full risk assessment of the tasks undertaken has to be carried out before you can make a decision. The type of safety high visibility workwear that you choose is then determined by the highest risk activity undertaken by that employee or category of employees. For example, an employee that obviously requires high vis workwear and occasionally works in an environment subject to flames or fire must have a high vis and fire retardant clothing.
The style of clothing ultimately depends on the type of job and the environment. You have to consider not only the risks but also the comfort and usability of the clothing. You cannot expect employees to wear a thing high vis vest in the middle of winter and a thick high vis jacket in the middle of summer. It sounds obvious, but making a sensible and well thought out decision on the type of clothing is important and could save you from unnecessary extra expenditure. To this end, consult with your employees, they know their day to day activities better than managers and would often have a better idea of what would work best. Ideally, you should determine the class levels required for each position and then be able to provide a selection of different garments for your employees to choose from.
We hope that this has helped you and again emphasise that these are only guidelines but that they may help you to choose the correct garments. All of the A4 high vis clothing has a British Standard where it is designed to be used in the workplace. Further, we also state the relevant class for each type of clothing to make your decisions easier but if you still need help, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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