Hi Vis Workwear

How Many Classes of Hi-Vis Workwear Are There?

There are three classes of high visibility workwear, each has specific requirements for the amount of reflective and fluorescent material that the garment must include. Along with this there are strict guidelines as to when each class should be applied.

• Class 1 - Suitable for low risk areas where workers are around equipment and vehicles moving at up to 19mph. Clothing that meets class 1 requirements must have at least 0.1 m2 of reflective material and 0.14m2 of fluorescent material.
• Class 2 - If you are working around vehicles operating at speeds up to 25mph then you will need at least class 2 rated high vis workwear. Class 2 clothing needs to have at least 0.13m2 of reflective material and 0.5m2 of fluorescent material.
• Class 3 - The highest grade of high visibility workwear for use in dangerous environments where the reflective material should alow the full silouette of the worker to be easily seen. If you are working around traffic traveling at up to 37mph you wil almost certainly need to wear class 3 clothing. Class 3 requires that the workwear features 0.2m2 of reflective material and 0.8m2 of flourecent material.

Of course there are other factors to consider when choosing your workwear as well as the class that the workwear adheres to. This includes its breathability waterproof rating and breathability under EN343 and whetheror not you need a fire rated hi vis or arc flash rated hi vis garment.

Can You Wash A Hi Vis Piece Of Clothing?

Yes, but how many times depends strongly on the quality. For example all of our Pulsar high visibility garments indicate a “certified washes” count. This is the amount of times the clothing item can be washed before the high visibility and fluorescent elements of the clothing may go out of specification and no longer meet the standards.

The above is not to say that you should not wash your clothing, as an excessively dirty piece of high vis workwear will not be visible either and is in most cases going to perform worse than something that has been washed too many times.