Saturday, September 21, 2013

Valuable Information On High Visibility Safety Products

By Leticia Morton


There are certain jobs that are in risky environments and do require the use of high visibility safety products. These products are made using reflective material to increase visibility of people working in such areas and hence keeping them safe. Some of the products have retro reflective bands to complement the color of the material and also contribute to visibility.

The work environments that do require people to wear safety materials include; traffic, construction, emergency response, fire fighting among other jobs. Apart from materials to be worn by workers, there are also other materials usually placed at around the work area or others placed at crime scenes among other areas. All these products also do come in various luminous colors such as; lime green, yellow, orange, red and any other color that a work environment chooses to adapt.

A common protective item known by many people are the safety vests. People normally seen putting these on include roadside workers including supervisors, cart retrievers, traffic cops, parking lot attendants, building construction workers and crossing guards. When such people put these materials on, they are easily spotted by traffic and thus cannot be harmed. It is however important to understand that the vests are categorized in three classes each representing a higher risk environment than the preceding one.

Apart from vests, there is also high visibility clothing such as; shirts, jackets, pants, rain wear, hats, boots and gloves. All these including the vests are collectively referred to as personal protective clothing. They are a requirement that all employers in high risk jobs should provide their employees with and guide them on their application.

Another product is the reflective tapes which are often used to ensure road safety is maintained. They are especially applicable during the night to reduce road accidents. They are marked on the road and because of their reflectiveness, the headlights of a car can be able to reflect them from a distance thereby guiding the driver on where the road is till destination.

Another type is the collapsible traffic cones. These ones improve protection of workers on road construction and any other type of work on the road. It may be that a car has been involved in a situation and needs emergency response. These cones are used in such a case. As to roadside workers, it ensures their protection while working and also other road users.

Protective batons, warning flags, LED strobes; beacons and flashers complete the list of these products. The batons and flags help in ensuring normal flow of traffic during road construction or emergency situations. But the flags are used during the day and are available in bright colors while batons are used at night as they have LED lighting. Flashers, strobes and beacons all have LED lighting and are also utilized during the night

All in all, high visibility safety products do help a lot in protecting people and thereby ensuring that accidents are avoided. They are a requirement under OSHA which people should adhere to as failure to comply can lead to prosecution. For this reasons, employers in risky jobs must always ensure they comply with these requirements and also ensure that their employees do so.




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