When choosing a high vis vest, people often think of the most common colours, namely orange hi vis vests and yellow hi vis vests. These are definitely the most popular colours of safety vests in Australia, but there are also some other colours such as white, red, green and pink that are used in various situations.
When designing your overall workwear program, it’s important to consider the unique environment and hazards of your workplace. Choosing the right colour of high visibility apparel, can help ensure that you’re as safe as possible when working among common hazards, including high-speed traffic and heavy machinery.
Orange Hi Vis Vest
Orange safety vests uses the colour "safety orange" that provides high visibility. Hi vis orange contrasts with most surroundings so is an ideal colour for safety clothing. Construction sites often use orange hi vis, and traffic cones, barriers and construction zone markings are often in a safety orange colour too.
However, when an orange safety vest gets dirty it is likely to darken and will be less visible against the surroundings, so constant cleaning is important.
One of the most popular orange safety vests is the Portwest Hi Vis Hoop Style Zip Up Reflective Vest. It is made from a soft touch, extra heavy duty, lightweight tricot polyester. It also features an extra long tail with 3M tape for extra visibility and HiVis retroreflective tape.
Yellow Safety Vest
Safety yellow is a colour associated with preventing accidents and keeping people safe. Research says that yellow is very noticeable to the human brain, and this is the reason why many warning signs, hazard symbols and personal protective equipment items are in this colour.
Hi vis yellow vests are often worn by construction workers and other outdoor workers, as well as emergency responders and other road workers. When yellow vests get dirty, they quickly lose some of their high visibility properties, so it is important to keep them as clean as possible, and replace as soon as they are too dirty or damaged.
Which Safety Vest Colour Is Most Easily Seen?
The answer to this question depends on the period within a day, but also on the context in which the colour is seen. For instance, during daytime and from a distance, yellow is the most visible colour.
However, after dark, we are more likely to spot blue-green shades, and you are more likely to spot orange against the green environment in an outdoor environment.
By combining fluorescent, and reflective hi-vis clothing, workers can significantly improve their visibility and overall safety. For a complete range of his vis clothing including hi vis vests, visit our website at https://www.southland.com.au/