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Safety
Apparel in Work Zones:
Is a Class 2
vest good enough??
The 2003 Edition
of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) contains
a whole new section on the latest industry standards for high visibility
apparel for workers and flaggers in work zones on public roads.
Worker visibility and safety is the ultimate goal.
Up to now, the Millenium Edition of the
MUTCD stated under “Worker Clothing” that it is recommended
that “workers close to the motor vehicle traveled way should
wear bright, highly visible clothing”.
Section 6D.03 B of the 2003 MUTCD, Worker
Safety Apparel, now recommends that all workers exposed to moving
roadway traffic or equipment should wear high-visibility safety
apparel meeting the ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 Standard for High-Visibility
Safety Apparel for risk exposure Class 1, 2 or 3. The section also
calls for a competent person responsible for the job site’s
worker safety plan to make the selection of the appropriate class
of garment.
Flagger control
The 2003 MUTCD in Section 6E.02, “High
Visibility Safety Apparel”, now states “for daytime
and night-time activity, flaggers shall wear safety apparel meeting
the requirement…of the ANSI 107-1999 standard performance
for Class 2 risk exposure”.
This section further recommends that for
night work, safety apparel meeting the ANSI 107 Class 3 risk exposure
be considered.
The 2000 Edition of the MUTCD, section
6E.02, just required safety garments to be a “vest, shirt,
or jacket of either orange, yellow, yellow-green, or a fluorescent
version of these colors for daylight use and retroreflective for
night work…. and shall be visible at a minimum distance of
300 m (1,000 ft).
Get ready now
Although the MUTCD’s target for implementation
for both the Worker Safety and Flagger Control requirements is December
of 2006, employers should consider these standards when they are
purchasing products now.
Clearly the increase in the number of national
fatalities in highway work zones over the past five years, from
782 in 1998 to 1,181 in 2002, was a sign that the recommendations
for Worker’s Safety and Worker Safety Apparel needed to be
more specific.
These changes to the Worker Safety Section
of the MUTCD clearly define minimum performance requirements for
high visibility safety apparel. Employers now have an ANSI Standard
to use when specifying their high visibility safety apparel.
The ANSI 107 Standard defined three classes
of garments depending on the level of protection required. Class
3 offers the highest level of protection. Class 2 provides superior
visibility and is more conspicuous than Class 1.
The classes of garments are based on minimum
areas of two elements: retroreflective materials and background
materials. When combined, these two elements greatly enhance the
visibility of the wearer in day and night.
Both the retroreflective material and background
material must have a test report from a third party testing laboratory
stating compliance with the ANSI 107 Standard. These documents must
be made available to end users if requested.
The right garment
The right class of garment to use is a
decision that must be made by each employer depending on the risks
their workers are encountering on the job. It is up to the employer
to determine, for example, the difference in risk level between
a paving job on a busy two-lane roadway and a sealing job in a closed
parking lot.
There are recommendations in Appendix B
of the Standard to help in the selection of the class of garment.
The class recommendations in the appendix are meant to be based
on the highest intermittent or continuous exposure of the worker.
More complex job sites, high worker task
loads, and high traffic speeds call for higher classes of garments.
At great distances and speeds the human form should be easily distinguished
from cones, drums, signs, and other traffic control devices.
Here are a few of the issues from the appendix
to consider when making decisions about specifying garments.
Class 1: (requires at least 155 sq. inches of reflective
trim)
Conditions:
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Low-speed roadways.
-
Work backgrounds are not complex.
-
Activities
permit full attention to traffic.
-
Primarily
off the right-of-way activities.
Examples:
-
Warehouse workers.
-
Delivery vehicle drivers.
-
Shopping cart retrievers.
-
Parking lot attendees.
-
Sidewalk maintenance workers.
Class 2: (requires at least 201 sq. inches of reflective
trim)
Conditions:
-
Complex backgrounds.
-
Tasks that divert attention from traffic.
-
Activities taking place in or close to traffic.
-
Speeds greater than 25 miles per hour.
-
Inclement weather.
Examples:
Class 3: (requires at least 310 sq. inches of reflective
trim)
Conditions:
-
High task loads that divert attention from traffic.
-
Full body motions conspicuous at over 1280 feet.
-
High-speed roadways: greater than 50 miles per hour.
-
Identification of the human form desired.
Examples:
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Law enforcement.
-
Utility workers.
-
Emergency response personnel.
-
Roadway construction workers.
The last thing to keep in mind when purchasing high-visibility
safety apparel is to look for the ANSI 107 Label. The standard
requires the manufacturer to attach a label that clearly states
the name of the manufacturer, size of the garment, maximum number
of wash cycles, care instructions if applicable, and a pictogram
showing both the class of garment and level of retro-reflective
material performance.
The ANSI 107-1999 Standard is available from the International
Safety Equipment Association; 1901 N. Moore Street, Arlington,
Virginia, 22209; 703-525-1695 or on the Web at www.safetyequipment.org
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