High-visibility safety apparel is clothing made with fluorescent and retroreflective materials, classified under ANSI/ISEA 107, that makes workers conspicuous to drivers and equipment operators in daylight and at night.
High-visibility safety apparel (HVSA), often called hi-vis, is clothing designed to make a worker easy to see against their surroundings, especially by drivers and equipment operators. It combines two kinds of material. Fluorescent background material, typically yellow-green, orange-red or red, stands out in daylight and at dawn and dusk. Retroreflective material, usually silver striping, bounces light from headlights and other sources back toward the driver, so the worker becomes visible at night.
In the United States, high-visibility apparel is classified under the voluntary consensus standard ANSI/ISEA 107, currently the 2020 edition. That standard sets minimum amounts of background and reflective material, color and performance requirements, and how the reflective material must be placed so that the wearer's human outline can be seen from all angles. Federal highway rules and many state, employer and project requirements reference ANSI/ISEA 107 directly, which turns a voluntary standard into a practical requirement.
Hi-vis is a form of personal protective equipment, and like all PPE it sits at the bottom of the hierarchy of controls. It does not stop a vehicle. It helps a driver see a worker early enough to react. Traffic control plans, physical barriers, speed reductions and separation of people from vehicles remain the more effective protections.
The 2020 edition organizes garments by type, which describes the work environment, and by performance class, which describes how much visible material the garment carries.
The standard recognizes fluorescent yellow-green, fluorescent orange-red and fluorescent red. The best color depends on the background. Fluorescent yellow-green tends to stand out in urban and wooded settings, while orange-red can be more visible against green vegetation or in snow. Some employers assign colors to roles to make supervisors or flaggers easy to identify.
Under Federal Highway Administration rules at 23 CFR 634, all workers within the right-of-way of a federal-aid highway who are exposed to traffic or to construction equipment within the work area must wear high-visibility apparel meeting the ANSI/ISEA 107 performance requirements for Class 2 or Class 3. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices also requires flaggers and others working in traffic control zones to wear compliant apparel.
OSHA does not have a standalone high-visibility standard, but its construction rules on signaling require flaggers to wear warning garments, and the general PPE rules at 29 CFR 1910.132 and 1926.95 require employers to assess hazards and provide appropriate PPE. Where a worker is exposed to vehicle or equipment traffic, OSHA can cite the failure to provide visible apparel under those rules or under the General Duty Clause.
Hi-vis is widely required by company policy in warehouses with forklifts, ports, rail yards, airports, mining, and anywhere people and mobile equipment share space. A hazard identification process that maps where pedestrians and vehicles interact is the best way to decide where it is needed and which class is appropriate.
A utility contractor repairing overhead lines along a rural state highway supplied its crews with Class 2 vests for daytime work. When the company took on an emergency repair job that ran through the night on a 60 mph stretch of road, the crew wore the same vests over dark FR jackets. A passing driver later reported to the state that she had only noticed one worker at the last moment because his arms and legs were invisible in her headlights.
The contractor reviewed its PPE assessment and adopted a rule that all night work and work beside roads with speeds above 45 mph requires a Class 3 ensemble. Because its line workers also face arc flash hazards, it bought arc-rated Class 3 jackets and Class E arc-rated pants rather than layering standard vests over FR clothing. Crews were trained to inspect their garments before each shift, and supervisors were given a quick headlight test to judge when reflective tape had worn out.
Class 2 meets the federal minimum for workers on federal-aid highways, but Class 3 is recommended for high-speed traffic, nighttime work, poor weather and complex backgrounds. Many state transportation departments and contractors require Class 3 at night.
There is no fixed lifespan. Replace them when the fluorescent color has faded, the reflective tape is cracked, peeling or dull, or the garment is torn, stained or contaminated. Daily outdoor use can wear a vest out within months; some manufacturers state a maximum number of washes.
Yes, as long as logos and lettering do not cover so much of the background or reflective material that the garment falls below the minimum area for its class. Many manufacturers offer compliant printing, and some state that the garment is still compliant after the logo is added.
There is no specific federal rule requiring it in warehouses, but it is common and good practice where pedestrians work near forklifts and other powered equipment. Type O garments are designed for these settings, and employers may require them based on their hazard assessment.
Part of SafetyIQ's EHS glossary: plain-English definitions of workplace health and safety terms.
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