The standard is a voluntary industry consensus standard — prior to the publication of this document, there wasn’t a consistent guide for the design, performance specs and use of high-vis apparel.
Background fabrics must be fluorescent yellow-green, fluorescent orange-red or fluorescent red. Apparel must provide 360º of visibility; so basically the retroreflective striping must encircle the torso. Plus, it must also be at least 2” above the hem. If there are multiple bands, say around the torso or around the arm, they have to be separated by at least the width of the band.
The following table tells you how much fluorescent background and retroreflective material a garment must have to be ANSI certified.
What does all of this mean?
Why does the background material have to be fluorescent? Fluorescent
materials have certain properties that make them more visible.
David M. Burns and Dr. Lee Pavelka state in their article, “How
Fluorescence Improves Roadway Safety”:
- “The high visibility of fluorescent materials is due to their unique ability to absorb energy in the near-ultraviolet and visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, they reemit the energy as longer wavelength visible light.”
National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends wearing fluorescent apparel to provide a suitable level of contrast against backgrounds like highways, trees and more. Fluorescent fabrics provide contrast because colors seem to jump out at you, which is the exact quality you want in a safety garment.
Retroreflective: 3M™ defines retroreflection as “when surfaces return a portion of the directed light to its source [which] is why retroreflective materials appear brightest to observers located near the light source – a driver and the vehicle headlights, for example.”
Learn even more about ANSI Compliant Apparel. Continue on or click any of the links below to go directly to that topic.
