The Wise Report
Henry M. Wise, P.G.
June 29, 2008
Tom Stare, with Eagle Construction & Environmental Services, L.P., sent me the following information on new regulationss for high-visibility vests for emergency responders. If you're working on or near roads you may want to follow these guidelines as well.
On November 24 2008, a new federal regulation (23 CFR 634) goes into effect mandating that
anyone working in the right-of-way of a federal-aid highway must be wearing high-visibility
clothing that meets the requirements of ANSI / ISEA 107; 2004 edition class 2 or 3. This requirement will apply to all emergency responders.
ANSI 107 requires that class 2 garments (vests) have at least 775 square inches of high-visibility, fluorescent background material and at least 201 square inches of reflective material. While the ANSI 207 requirement for reflective material is the same (201 in2), it requires only 450 square inches of background material. Therefore, ANSI 207 vests do not meet the requirements of ANSI 107 and therefore do not currently meet the requirements of 23 CFR 634.
An extensive write-up of the issues involved can be found at: https://www.rkb.us/contentdetail.cfm?content_id=200647
Henry M. Wise, P.G.
The Wise Report
6/29/2008