What Colour Hi-Vis Should You Wear?

High-visibility clothing is required for certain roles and industries to make sure workers are easily seen on site, especially in low light conditions. But what colour hi-vis should you wear and when?

In this article, we’ll discuss the main colours of hi-vis workwear, where you can wear them, and how to choose the right one for your situation.

What are the common colours for hi-vis?

There are three main colours for hi-vis clothing:

Fluorescent yellow
Fluorescent orange
Fluorescent red

The EN ISO 20471 safety standard, which regulates hi-vis garments, specifies that these three are the only acceptable colours. You may encounter hi-vis items in other colours, but it would be non-compliant and outside the scope of this article.

However, compliant garments don’t have to be made entirely from luminous yellow, orange, or red fabric. Many items of hi-vis workwear include contrast panels in darker colours like black or grey - these can be used to denote different roles, or just to hide dirt in high-grime areas like the waist, neck, and cuffs.

TIP: Read our article on how to clean hi-vis clothing.

What about hi-vis classes?

The “class” of hi-vis is often more important than the colour. Simply wearing hi-vis red, orange, or yellow clothing won’t necessarily mean you’re compliant with the requirements of an individual site or industry.

That’s because EN ISO 20471 ranks hi-vis garments according to the amount of fluorescent background and reflective material they contain. There are three classes or categories for hi-vis, with Class 1 being the lowest.

Class 1: Typically worn in low-risk areas, such as warehouses or off-road work sites.

Class 2: Worn in medium-risk areas with slow-moving traffic.

Class 3: Suitable for areas with the highest risk, such as railways, airports, quarries, and near fast-moving traffic.

It’s worth noting that smaller sizes of the same garment may have a lower classification, as the surface area of fluorescent and reflective material is smaller.

Where can you wear the three hi-vis colours?

These handy tables show the most common use cases for yellow, orange, and red hi-vis garments - and why.

Yellow hi-vis

Industry / environment	Why yellow?
Construction sites	Strong all-round visibility; easy to source in Class 2 and Class 3
Warehousing and logistics	Good contrast indoors and in yards
Roadside work (depending on client rules)	Very visible against tarmac and vehicles
Delivery, transport, and distribution	Common, inexpensive, and widely recognised
General facilities and maintenance	Standardised, recognisable PPE
Visitor PPE	Often used for generic visitor vests

Where should you not use yellow?

Yellow hi-vis can be less effective in areas where it blends into the background - for example, against grass, hedges, foliage, yellow plants, yellow barriers, sodium-lit areas, and some quarry/aggregate environments.

Pulsar P191 Padded Yellow Hi-Vis Bomber Jacket On Construction Worker

Orange hi-vis

Industry / environment	Why orange?
Rail*	UK rail network commonly requires orange to avoid confusion with railway signalling colours
Highways and road works	Stands out against grey tarmac and yellow road signs
Utilities and civil contractors	Good contrast against green/brown outdoor backgrounds
Waste, recycling, and highways maintenance	Strong outdoor contrast
Quarries and aggregates	Often contrasts better than yellow with dusty or natural backgrounds
Plant operators / banksmen	Can be used to distinguish roles or zones
Ports and logistics yards	Good contrast around vehicles and containers

* For use on rail sites, orange hi-vis workwear needs to be compliant with the RIS-329-TOM (formerly GO/RT 32798) standard as well as with EN 20471.

Why is orange sometimes not ideal?

Orange can blend into some backgrounds more than the other colours. For instance, this may be the case if you’re working on steel where there’s lots of rust, or against another orange background. There may be specific corporate or site rules that prohibit orange hi-vis.

Rail Maintenance Workers With Communication Ear Defenders

Red hi-vis

Industry / environment	Why red?
Emergency roles	Can help identify fire marshals and rescue or incident response roles
Airports / airside	Sometimes used for role distinction, subject to local rules
Site management or exclusion	Can indicate authority, supervision, or restricted duties
Industrial plants	May be used where yellow/orange are already assigned to other teams
Farming / agriculture	Does not attract insects like the other colours do

Downsides of using red

Red hi-vis may cause confusion if people assume that the wearer is a fire marshal or emergency responder. Compared to other hi-vis colours, there are more background types where red is less easy to distinguish.

How to choose the right colour

So, which colour should you wear? Take these factors into account before you buy hi-vis workwear.

1. Legal requirements

First, check if your industry or work site has any official rules for the colour of hi-vis garments. This would apply to the rail network, where orange must be worn.

2. Environment

If there are no legal requirements, consider the primary background colour of the most common working environment. If there’s a lot of greenery, then orange hi-vis will stand out better than yellow - but in a warehouse, yellow may offer better contrast.

3. Role

You may decide to designate roles by colour. If so, think about the specific working characteristics that may impact workers’ visibility. For example, welding teams may be working against a rusty steel background while concrete teams need to show up against grey surfaces.

4. Availability

If you need garments that conform to other standards as well as being hi-vis, this may affect the colour you go for. For instance, items with protection against fire and arc flash may not always be available in all colours from all brands.

Closing thoughts

Knowing what colour hi-vis to wear is essential for safety and compliance. The legal requirements of your site, the working environment, and individual roles will all affect your choice between yellow, orange, and red.

Ready to buy hi-vis workwear? Start Safety has a huge selection in all three colours, all compliant with EN 20471. Contact our friendly sales team with any questions.