Article of American Towman magazine

This is the June 2004 American Towman Magazine cover
[ This article was posted into the internet on 2004 ]

Life And Vest
A Look At The Standards

Deck: Changes To The Federal Highway Manual Means It's A Good Time To Check Your Old Safety Vest!

By Rich McNeely

It's hard to find an occupation more dangerous from a visibility standpoint than towing. Day and night, in good weather and bad, tow truck drivers are working inches from traffic. It seems every few weeks there is report in the press about a tower killed on the job. What can be done to increase the odds of coming home in one piece? How about a simple $20.00 safety vest?

Most tow truck drivers do not wear vests of any kind much less the ones that the Federal Highway Administration is now recommending. Now is a good time to look at what you and your drivers are wearing for safety.

The "Worker Safety" Section of the Federal Highway Administration's new 2003 Edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, (MUTCD), now recommends that ALL roadway workers wear ANSI-107 Class 1, 2 or 3 compliant safety apparel.

A traffic manual

Section 6D.03 paragraph B "Worker Safety Apparel" now says:
"-all workers exposed to the risks of moving roadway traffic or construction equipment should wear high-visibility safety apparel meeting the requirements of ISEA "American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel" (see Section 1A.11), or equivalent revisions, and labeled as ANSI 107-1999 standard performance for Class 1, 2, or 3 risk exposure. A competent person designated by the employer to be responsible for the worker safety plan within the activity area of the job site should make the selection of the appropriate class of garment." (1)

This compares to the 2000 Edition of the MUTCD, Section 6D.02 paragraph B which said simply:
"-workers close to the motor vehicle traveled way should wear bright, highly visible clothing..." (2)

2003 Edition ANSI-107 Class 2 Vest 2000 Edition Non-ANSI-107 Vest

Probably the biggest reason for this change is the increase in the number of fatalities in Highway Work Zones over the past 5 years, from 782 in 1998 to 1181 in 2002 ( 3 ). These numbers are a clear a sign that the recommendations for Worker's Safety and Worker Safety Apparel needed to be more specific.

Statistics on Towing Industry deaths and injuries are not gathered by the Federal Government but best estimates put the number of fatalities in the industry in the 10 - 20 per year range. The main factors in towing fatalities are vehicle accident, struck by vehicle and homicide.

The need for increased visibility is instinctive as evidenced by the average $1,200.00 worth of emergency-vehicle lighting protecting the tow truck while the average driver has little or nothing in the way of protection.

A false sense of security comes from all that emergency vehicle lighting: the towing operator thinks that on-coming motorists will easily see both the truck and the driver. Unfortunately at night and in low-light conditions the use of emergency-vehicle lighting can reduce the night vision of motorists and actually makes it more difficult to navigate around the scene.

Another common misconception is "I can see the approaching headlights, they must see me", but like all misconceptions, this one is wrong! The oncoming driver, confused by the incident will see the truck's emergency-vehicle lights and little else.

2003 Edition ANSI-107 Class 2 Vest

2000 Edition Non-ANSI-107 Vest

There is a three year target implementation (November 2006) on this change to allow current inventories of non-ANSI-107 garments to be used up. The upgrade in protection between Non-ANSI-107 and ANSI-107 is so great that the change to ANSI-107 labeled clothing should be made as soon as possible.

Without reflective Safety vest.

With reflective safety vest.

The MUTCD
For those not familiar with it; the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices..."shall be recognized as the national standard for all traffic control devices installed on any street, highway... open to public travel."(4) A visit to the Introduction section on the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) MUTCD website (http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-2003.htm) shows the law, chapter and verse.

The addition of the ANSI-107 recommendation to the Worker Safety Section of the New MUTCD clearly defines minimum performance requirements for high visibility safety apparel. The ANSI 107 Standard should be used as a tool when sourcing high visibility safety apparel.

The ANSI 107 Standard
The ANSI 107 Standard defines three classes of garments depending on the level of protection required. Class 3 offers the highest level of protection. Class 2 provides superior visibility and is more conspicuous than Class 1.

The classes of garments are based on minimum areas of two elements: retro-reflective materials and background materials.

Retro-reflective materials return light back to the light source, that is, back to the headlights of the vehicle.
Background materials are fluorescent materials that absorb non-visible light and emit visible light and are especially effective at dusk, dawn and on cloudy days.

When combined, these two elements enhance visibility of the wearer day and night.

Both the retro-reflective material and background material must have a test report from a third party testing laboratory stating compliance with the ANSI-107 Standard. These documents must be made available to end users if requested.

Choosing the right ANSI-107 Class of Garment
The right class of garment to use is a decision that must be made by each employer depending on the risks their workers typically encounter on the job.

There are recommendations in Appendix B of the Standard to help in the selection of the class of garment. The class recommendations in the Appendix are meant to be based on the highest intermittent or continuous exposure of the worker.

More complex job sites, high worker task loads and high traffic speeds call for higher classes of garments. At great distances and speeds the human form should be easily distinguishable.

Here are a few of the issues from the appendix to consider when making decisions about specifying garments.

Class 1:
Conditions:
o Low speed roadways
o Little visual clutter
o Activities permit full attention to traffic
o Low congestion
o Primarily off the right-of-way activities
Examples
o Warehouse workers
o Delivery vehicle drivers
o Shopping cart retrievers
o Parking lot attendees
o Sidewalk maintenance workers

Class 2:
Conditions:
o Complex backgrounds
o Tasks that divert attention from traffic
o Activities taking place in or close to traffic
o Speeds greater than 25 mph
o Inclement weather
Examples
o Utility workers
o Roadway construction workers
o Emergency response personnel
o Survey crews
o Law enforcement

Class 3:
Conditions:
o High task loads that divert attention from traffic
o Full body motions conspicuous at over 390m
o High speed roadways: greater than 50 mph
o Identification of the Human Form desired
Examples
o Law enforcement
o Utility workers
o Emergency response personnel
o Roadway construction workers

ANSI-107 Class E Trousers

Class E
Class E trousers are made from the same retro-reflective and background material as Classes 1, 2 & 3 garments. When Class E trousers are worn in combination with a Class 2 vest, they form a Class 3 ensemble.

ANSI 107 Label

ANSI-107 Labeling

The last thing to keep in mind when purchasing High Visibility Safety Apparel is to look for the ANSI-107 Label. The standard requires the manufacturer to attach a label that clearly states the name of the manufacturer, size of the garment, maximum number of wash cycles, care instruction if applicable and a pictogram showing both the class of garment (x) and level of retro-reflective material performance (y).

The whole area of High Visibility Safety Apparel has just taken a big leap forward with these changes to the MUTCD. Whatever class of garment you chose for you and your crew, their visibility will be greatly enhanced, day or night, good weather or bad! Good quality high visibility safety apparel is not expensive when one considers what is at risk!

The ANSI 107-1999 Standard is available from the International Safety Equipment Association; 1901 N. Moore Street, Arlington, VA 22209; 703-525-1695 or on the web at www.safetyequipment.org

ANSI 107 Class 3 Ensemble

Rich McNeely is Vice President of Safety Products at AW Direct, Inc. a leading supplier of High Visibility Safety Apparel and Accessories to the Towing Industry. Rich is a 25 year veteran of the High Visibility Safety Business, having worked in Europe on the development of the EN-471 High Visibility Safety Apparel Standard and in Canada on the CSA Z-96 High Visibility Safety Apparel Standard. He is a member of the ISEA Committee currently writing the ANSI-107 Standard. Rich is a frequent trainer on high visibility safety to many audiences throughout the USA. He may be reached via email at rmcneely@awdirect.com or phone at 800-243-3194.

Rich McNeely, Vice President of Safety Products at AW Direct, Inc.

1 Source: Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, 2003 Edition. Section 6D.03 Worker Safety Considerations, Guidance paragraph B - Worker Safety Apparel. Available on the web at http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/HTM/2003/part6/part6d.htm .
2 Source: Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, 2000 Millennium Edition with incorporated Revision # 1 changes dated December 28, 2001. Section 6D.02 Workers Considerations, Guidance paragraph B - Worker Clothing. Available on the web at http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/millennium/06.14.01/6dndi.pdf .
3 Source: National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse. Available on the web at http://wzsafety.tamu.edu/crash_data/ 1994 - 2002 Work Zone Fatalities.
4 Source: Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, 2003 Edition. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices Introduction, page I-1, Standard paragraph 2. Available on the web at http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2003/CoverIntroTOC.pdf .

The entire Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices can be downloaded from the Federal Highway Administration's website in either .pdf or .htm format at: (http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/kno-2003.htm)

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