Tag: high visibility clothing

Visibly well dressed in high visibility clothing

High-quality and highly functional warning clothing is justified in countless occupations and work areas. It protects against various professional risks and attracts the attention of third parties in poor visibility and darkness over long distances

 

FE Engel has long been appreciating the advantage of being easily recognizable: as Scandinavian winters have long dark periods and the oblique evening sun shines in the summer, high-visibility clothing has long been a central component of the protective clothing concept at the Danish clothing manufacturer.

 

In countless situations, high visibility clothing that is recognizable in any lighting conditions improves the protection of professionals. The eye-catching fluorescent colors and the retro reflective tapes clearly signal when workers move in dark halls, workshops, warehouses or construction sites, or travel on confusing terrain and poorly lit paths. They are a visual display for people at work. FE Engel has long appreciated this outstanding function of high-visibility clothing: “In Scandinavia, darkness dominates in winter, and on summer evenings a low-lying sun hides. That limits the view and becomes a risk factor, “explains managing director Carl E. Engel.

 

“Based on this experience, we have made the ISO 20471 warning function a central part of our protective clothing concept. It improves the chance of craftsmen and employees in industrial companies to be reliably and remotely recognized, even under special lighting conditions. This allows them to work undisturbed and safely. ”

 

Visibly safe dressed in everyday working life

With its two ranges Safety and Safety +, FE Engel offers one of the most comprehensive, highly functional and thoroughly thought-through safety-protection collections in Europe. The safety line is dedicated to an appearance on traffic routes that is safe in any weather. The numerous tops and pants meet ISO 20471 and offer various solutions in protection classes 1, 2 and 3. The Parka Shell jacket, the Shell pilot jacket, and rain jacket and pants also protect reliably against bad weather; they are additionally certified according to EN 343.

 

Safety + combines warning protection with the plus of other protection features required in trade and industry. These include protection against welding, heat, and flame (ISO 11611 and ISO 11612) in protection classes 1 and 2 as well as protection against the thermal hazards of an arc (FprEN 61482), chemical protection of type 6 (EN 13034) and protection against electrostatic charging (EN 1149-5).

 

The versatility of the FE Engel high-visibility collection is also reflected in the variety of colors: Safety and Safety + are available in the hi-vis basic colors red, yellow and orange, or are combined with the sought after shades of gray, green and dark blue in many industries.

 

The Safety and Safety + ranges include jackets, softshell and fleece jackets, safety vests, shirts, t-shirts, polos and sweatshirts, trousers, dungarees and shorts, and combinations.

New regulation is intended to enlighten cyclists

The German police union and the CDU want cyclists who wear the reflective clothing. Others reject a rule – and the accident statistics of the police on the lack of lighting surprised.

 

The German police union wants to bring light into the dark on the bike paths. Land chief calls for a warning waistcoat for cyclists in the dark. In addition, it reaps predominantly skepticism, but enthusiasm with the CDU. Their transport policy spokesperson Oliver Frederica wants to “address the issue in the coalition and consider whether we make a Federal Council initiative out of it.”

 

Brickman reports of an eye-opening experience at a meeting of patrol and traffic police. There it was illustrated with photos, how well cyclists can be seen thanks to the West – especially in the rich in lights City, in which the bicycle lights are not always noticeable.

 

Others emphasize, however, that rather than adopting a new rule, it would be preferable to enforce the long-established light-driving method in the dark. This is also what Kerstin Philipp, head of the larger police union said: “If we had more police, we could do much more preventative. With more controls and presence, the educational effect would also apply. ”

 

The critics of a duty emphasize the fact that it makes sense to wear a safety vest as a cyclist. “Safety vests and cycling helmets contribute to self-protection, and that’s why I recommend it,” says Siegfried Brickman, who heads accident research for insurers. “For the dark season warning vests would definitely not be bad,” confirms boss Philipp. SPD transport politician Ole Reins says: “I find a voluntary good.” He does not respond to the CDU demand for a Federal Council initiative. “We also do not equip the pedestrians with safety vests.” This argument does not pull: “Pedestrians are not so fast and less on the road.”

 

The police department states that it is “in the best interests of every cyclist” to be well seen through light and bright, ideally reflective clothing. “While, according to police observations, there are still too many cyclists traveling in the dark without light, the voluntary use of safety vests has already increased significantly without any obligation.” The police recommend both safety vests and helmets.

 

The Greens and the cycling association ADFC reject clothing regulations. International comparisons showed that for safe cycling, it was the traffic climate had to be improved. The German lighting requirement would be sufficient if it were enforced. In Munster, it succeeded to increase the audience rating by controls from 40 per cent in the year 2007 to now 97 per cent. Who is caught without light on the wheel, pays 20 Euros.

 

Brickman justifies his demand for compulsory wasting with the fact that cyclists caused at least 54 percent of their 6952 accidents in 2013 as well. However, in a study by the police, the subject of lighting does not even appear on more than one hundred pages – not even in the list of the eight most common causes of accidents, which covers at least 94 percent of the cases. An indication of the problem of poor visibility provides at most the evaluation of the other cyclists accidents caused: There is priority violation in second place. Therefore, good high visibility clothing will be necessary for the drivers. Often this has to do with the fact that others have simply overlooked the cyclists. The discrepancy between the subjectively perceived as extremely reckless lack of lighting and their objectively minor role in the accident explain professionals so that moments of horror and near misses are not recorded.

This is an aggravating factor for road safety

Lieutenant of Traffic of the Civil Guard and responsible of the detachment of To Corunna, Jose Manuel Lopez participated yesterday in the campaign of sensitization initiated. “The data are worrisome both at the provincial level and the Costa. At the provincial level, we have 10 pedestrians who died in 2016; six in 2017 and three so far this year. These are very worrying data because, in most cases, they were abuses in which the victims were not wearing something as simple as a reflective vest.

 

According to the head of the detachment in A Corunna, these ominous statistics are even worse in a rural like the Costa: “Population aging and dispersion act as an aggravating factor. People need to run their errands and have to go on general roads, with a great movement of traffic. These pedestrians, either walk, or vehicles that do not require a driver’s license, with the risk that entails.

 

This campaign aims to be an awareness of the need to follow the indications on road safety. “It’s no use having the reflective safety vest at home. You have to use it whenever you go out; it is the only way to be visible to drivers, because the risk of being run over is very high. If you add to that a poor public lighting, adverse weather conditions, and the use of dark clothes, the possibility of an outrage increases exponentially. ”

 

This campaign of the Provincial Traffic Headquarters in collaboration with the Civil Guard Traffic Sub-sector of a Corunna is carried out in all the detachments. In the province, A Corunna, Santiago and Ferrol, but it will be especially significant in cameras such as the Costa, in which almost half of those killed in the road network were passers-by without high visibility clothing.

The DH tested a reflective material spray

The IBSR and the DH have tested the new self-reflective bombs and come to the same conclusions. Recently available on the net or in specialized stores, reflective material spray bombs have not yet invaded our cities. The Belgian Institute for Road Safety (BRSI) has conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of these products. The DH also performed tests.

 

To be effective, retro reflective paints must be visible when illuminated and otherwise invisible. “They can then become an alternative to fluorescent vests, considered impractical or cumbersome by some. Inversely, if they do not give the expected results, low users could have a false sense of security,” says the IBSR. As part of this survey, the BRSI tested paint samples on fabrics commonly worn outdoors and on building materials; and this in different weather conditions. At DH, we tested the textile bomb and checked its effectiveness on cotton in the dark.

 

“In view of the results obtained, the IBSR can not recommend the use of this type of retro reflective paint as an alternative to high visibility clothing. Although invisible paint, when properly applied, can improve the ability to be seen, the gain is much lower than that of traditional fluorescent jackets,” concludes the specialized institute.

 

First, the reflective effects are only noticeable at a distance of several meters. The spray is not very visible at three meters. Second, the product is certainly washable but is highly toxic and polluting, which is stated on the packaging. Third, to see the effect of the product, the packaging accurately makes a photo with flash. However, in our tests, we noted that the spray reflects much more flashlight than that of car headlights. Finally, the price of a bomb varies between 15 and 25 Euros depending on the volume (100 ml or 200 ml).

 

“If a properly approved garment is not available, the invisible retro reflective paint may be a good way to increase its visibility, but the user must be aware of its limited effect,” advises the BRSI. He welcomes the initiative and sees potential in this type of products.