Who Is Required To Use Hi Vis Vests Or Jackets While At Work_

1. Who Is Required To Use Hi Vis Vests Or Jackets While At Work?

2. More commonly known as high-vis vests and jackets, reflective workwear is often worn by individuals to help keep them safe when visibility might be an issue, and is an essential aspect of PPE for employees across many industries. In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, better known as OSHA, mandates that many different companies in a wide range of industries supply their employees with hi-vis workwear. However, even when high visibility vests aren’t required to be worn by law, many companies in other industries still encourage their workers to wear them for enhanced safety.

3. So, who must wear reflective workwear? There are many jobs requiring hi-vis workwear, but those performed close to oncoming traffic or heavy equipment that’s moving, are particularly vulnerable to accidents and injuries. For anyone working on, or close to federal-aid highways, for example, they must abide by the Federal Highway Worker Visibility Rule. Now applicable to anyone working on roadways with public access, and enforceable by inspectors from OSHA, this regulation provides a standardized guide as to how the reflective workwear should be designed, how it should perform, and who should wear it.

4. What occupations are required to wear high visibility workwear? While this list is by no means exhaustive, here are 20 of the most common occupations that require the wearing of high visibility vests and jackets: Site workers constructing roads Construction workers Heavy equipment operators Road surveyors Firemen

5. Tow truck drivers Emergency responders Parking attendants Airport ground crews Railway workers Shipyard dock workers Garbage and refuse workers Event security

6. Shopping cart retrievers As mentioned previously, there are many employers who recommend that their workers wear hi-vis workwear even when they aren’t required to by OSHA, and who are more than willing to supply them with it. These include workers inside warehouses, factories and processing plants; seeing workers without reflective clothing inside these types of environments and workplaces, is less commonplace nowadays. In many instances, these particular industries have made the wearing of hi-vis PPE mandatory in order to adopt a ‘better safe than sorry’ stance towards safety in the workplace, which of course, makes absolute sense.

7. Should you invest in hi-vis workwear even when you aren’t required to? If there is a risk of any of your employees not being seen clearly enough while at work, and possibly coming to serious harm as a result, then investing in hi-vis workwear is an absolute no-brainer. As well as keeping your employees safer, you’re also demonstrating an active desire to protect them, which shows how much you value them and their work. If you don’t feel as if there is a need for high visibility jackets, but you still have some concerns over their workplace safety, you could opt for enhanced visibility workwear instead.

8. This applies to any colored garment with a stripe of retro-reflective material on it, or vests or jackets that are simply bright yellow or orange. Designed for employees in environments that are less risky, they will obviously afford them more protection than if they weren’t wearing them. Ultimately, high visibility clothing is a safety accessory that helps companies protect their workforce - while also limiting injuries and the costs associated with them - and should be worn appropriately by all workers in occupations and positions designated by OSHA.