Safety vests should ensure high visibility of the wearer. It is not always possible for workers to focus on the moving traffic while working, which can be dangerous. Therefore, an approaching vehicle driver or equipment handler should be able to see the worker clearly to avoid crashes. In order to promote high visibility, safety vests should use luminous background fabric striped with a reflective (retroreflective) tape. The fluorescence of the vest's background material gives daytime visibility. The reflective vest tape makes the worker visible the instant he encounters a light source such as vehicle headlights, which ensures good nighttime visibility.
Safety vests should be of luminous colors. Accepted colors under the standards are fluorescent red, fluorescent yellow-green and fluorescent orange-red. According to the ANSI/ISEA 207-2006 standard, vests for fire officials should be red, blue for law enforcement personnel and orange for DOT officers; emergency responders are required to wear green vests.
The width of the retro-reflective material on the safety vest should be 50mm, 35mm, or 25mm, depending upon the garment class (1/2/3), which is defined according to wearer's activities. 50mm is for class 3 garments; it provides the highest visibility and is a must for those workers working under different weather conditions, on tasks that demand complete attention. 217 square inches of fluorescent background fabric is required for class 1 vests, 775 square inches for class 2 vests and 1240 square inches for class 3 vests. Background materials should not shrink after wash.
Vests' design should address specific requirements of public safety workers, such as equipment belts to fix gun, radio, etc. The vest design should also allow the wearer to tear and remove it from the body.
