Safety Information
Understanding the ANSI 107-2004 Standard
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has established simple but effective guidelines for High-Visibility Safety Apparel. The components of the ANSI 107-2004 standard are very specific -- the material and reflectivity must fall within a test range that meets a certain minimum of color brightness. The material must also meet a non-transparent standard. ANSI is divided into three main classes: Class I, Class II, and Class III.
Class I apparel should be worn by personnel who are separated from traffic that is traveling no faster than 25 MPH. Class I garments work well in parking lots, warehouse environments, and more.
Class II apparel has more reflectivity and fluorescence, so it is intended for use in situations where more visibility is essential -- for example, lower light, inclement weather, and close proximity to 25-50 MPH traffic. This standard is ideal for workers in urban and suburban areas, including road construction crews, utility and survey crews, EMS workers, traffic police, railway workers, and more.
Class III apparel provides the highest level of visibility, so it's designed for workers who face serious hazards, work with traffic more than 50 MPH, and need to be visible through a full range of body motions from a minimum distance of 1,280 feet. Class III apparel provides more visibility to the arms and legs, not just the torso. It's ideal for workers on highways and freeways, including road construction and maintenance crews, utility and survey crews, EMS and railway workers, and more.
Background material is an important component of the ANSI standard. Both lime-yellow and red-orange standard background materials are available. However, the April 2000 issue of Utility Safety states that the lime-yellow fluorescent color provides better visibility to distinguish humans in the cluttered work zone. Furthermore, a red/green colorblind person (which includes a large portion of males) sees orange fluorescent as black in sodium light, which is increasing in usage on some roadways. The lime-yellow fluorescent color is seen more clearly and more brightly than the orange fluorescent color. The more visible the workers are against the background, the better they are seen in a real accident situation. The visibility of the background material, coupled with the appropriate amount of retroreflective material, ensures that your employees will have the highest visibility for any given situation.
Although this is voluntary and you are not mandated to follow the ANSI standard, make sure you have a risk assessment if you choose not to follow these guidelines. Otherwise, it could be construed as negligence if one of your employees gets injured while on the job.
For more information about ANSI and it's organization, click on the link below.
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