High visibility equipment is crucial for any industrial workplace, and hi-vis X-back vests are the equipment of choice for construction workers operating around roads and highways. To help you understand the importance of wearing X-back hi-vis vests, allow us to explain how these particular vests work and the purpose the design serves.
Why Hi-Vis Vests Are Necessary
When working, it’s common for construction workers and other industrial employees to operate in low-light conditions or in vision-obscuring weather. For that reason, it’s important that they wear high-visibility PPE in order to keep them visible in every circumstance—especially when working around roads and highways. Hi-vis safety vests can easily be worn over a worker’s clothes and help to ensure that both your coworkers and the drivers on the road can see you.
How Reflective Striping Is Used
Reflective striping, as the name suggests, reflects light back at the source. This is incredibly useful for work around roads and highways because a car’s headlights easily reflect off the stripes, helping drivers see workers in low-light conditions. Most notable, however, is how the striping is applied—as an “H” pattern in the front and an “X” in the back. This is to help indicate to drivers which way the worker is facing, the “X” meaning the worker’s back is turned, and they may not be fully aware of your presence. This reason alone highlights the importance of wearing X-back hi-vis vests as an extra safety measure that communicates more information to drivers and individuals around a construction worker.
How Hi-Vis Is Measured
Hi-vis PPE is measured through three different performance classes. Class one hi-vis gear is meant for off-road work where cars are not an immediate threat and bright colors easily distinguish workers from the naturalistic background. Class two and three concern working around roads, and class two has additional reflective materials to provide distinction from greater distances, such as reflective tape. Class three, however, will not only add additional materials like reflective X-back vests, but will also distinguish the human form so you can see exactly what a worker is doing.