Hi-Vis Workwear

You will find hi-vis clothing across many sectors and types of businesses, with the most popular and common place being construction sites. Other examples include:

• Manufacturing: Workers wear high visibility clothing to ensure that forklifts and other equipment can clearly see them as they navigate the area.
• Warehousing: Warehouse employees need to ensure they are easily seen by operators of lifting equipment and drivers coming to and from the site.
• Offices: During fire drills, the designated fire marshal will wear a hi-vis jacket or vest so that everyone knows who to report to for registration.
• Council services: Refuse collection workers must ensure that they are visible while working in and around traffic at the roadside.
• Utilities: Contractors installing broadband and fibre-optic services will wear hi-vis when working near the roadside.
• Health & safety inspectors: Almost always seen wearing a hi-vis piece of clothing while carrying out inspections.
• Rail maintenance: When working alongside live rail infrastructure, workers in hi-vis can be seen at a distance by train drivers and the rest of their team.
• Lorry drivers: Drivers always carry high-visibility workwear in their cab, to wear when loading and unloading their vehicle.

Under EN ISO 20471, there are three classes for high visibility workwear, each with specific requirements for the amount of reflective and fluorescent material the garment must include and 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 - For working around vehicles operating at speeds up to 25mph. This needs to have at least 0.13m2 of reflective material and 0.5m2 of fluorescent material.
• Class 3 - Suitable for working around traffic travelling at up to 37mph. Class 3 requires that the workwear features 0.2m2 of reflective material and 0.8m2 of fluorescent material.

Other factors to consider when buying hi-vis workwear include waterproof rating and breathability rating under EN343, and whether or not you need a fire-rated hi-vis or arc flash-rated hi-vis garment.

Remember, hi-vis clothing may no longer be compliant if it's too dirty or faded. For guidance on how to wash hi-vis clothing, check out this article.

Hi-vis workwear is required for many industries and roles, and our bulk discounts enable you to kit out the whole workforce while saving money at the same time! We can handle large orders efficiently from our extensive stocks. Check out our full range of workwear to see what else we can help you with. 

Next-day delivery available

The sooner you receive your hi-vis workwear, the safer your team will be. Next-working-day delivery is available for items we have in stock, as long as you place the order by 2pm. We can also arrange same-day delivery on request - just call our friendly sales team for assistance.

On the shelf & ready to go

At Start Safety, we work hard to maintain reliable stock levels of the products you need. This means you can easily find what you're looking for, and we can get your items out to you quickly. Don't forget that we offer next-day delivery on items in stock!