What Does
High-Visibility Workwear Mean?
High-visibility workwear is the clothing workers wear for the purpose of clear visibility while performing their professional duties. The most common piece of clothing is the high-visibility jacket, which almost all industrial workers wear.
This workwear is made of a mesh material that glows in low light and in darkness. The shiny strips on the high-visibility workwear enable the workers to spot each other from a distance, even during the day.
Safeopedia Explains High-Visibility Workwear
Heavy machinery like cranes run in industrial areas for transportation, so this high-visibility workwear helps the machine or crane operators to spot workers at the workplace. In this way, high-visibility clothing lowers the percentage of sudden accidents. This clothing also comes in handy in tunnels and mines.
Other than providing great visibility, high-visibility workwear also serves other purposes. Workers can easily feel comfortable in these clothes, as the mesh material is thin enough to let air pass through. There are different colors available, but only those that provide high visibility (yellow, green, orange, and occasionally a bluish-green) are used in the manufacturing of high-visibility workwear.
High-visibility jackets are very common, and workers in office and industrial areas wear them for clear visibility. There are other pieces of high-visibility clothing that serve different purposes, too. You can find high-visibility vests, shirts, pants, rainwear, and hats available in the market.
High-visibility hard hats are also part of workwear. The basic purpose of these hats is to provide safety from hard objects that could do serious damage, but different colors also help workers to spot each other from a distance. High-visibility workwear has consequently helped to reduce accidents at the workplace. Almost all the heavy industries have a safety department that stresses the implementation of wearing these safety hats and high-visibility workwear. As per the orders from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), all such workers have to wear this workwear during working hours. Industries also arrange seminars and trainings to enforce the use of high-visibility workwear and safety hats.
Another factor to consider is that outdoor workers may face rainy conditions. The high-visibility workwear's mesh design does not absorb water and become heavy. When it rains, workers use specially designed high-visibility rainwear. Colors of the high-visibility workwear also differentiate the workers according to their departments, so you may find workwear with more than one color at a single workplace. The colors also differ within each industry. For example, fire department workers wear bright orange or red workwear, while workers in the manufacturing industry wear green or yellow workwear.