I like the fact the thieves wore “high vis” clothing to make themselves look “legitimate”. But as the story points out they were getting injured in arc flash events.
I support Hi Vis workwear, as it can’t hurt to be more visible in a busy workplace, especially with a lot of mobile equipment around. My issue with high-vis requirements is that far too many think it’s some type of visible commitment to safety- IT’s NOT! Most of us can remember seeing:
1) a worker in high-vis gear doing an outrageously dangerous stunt, made more visible due to the high-vis gear, or
2) the high-vis gear quit being “hi-vis” about 2 years earlier but is still in use and counting as wearing hi-vis clothing.
If we going to require hi-vis gear then we MUST manage it properly or it can become the safety laughing point causing issues with safety “credibility”. This gear has key properties and when those properties are diminished beyond our acceptable levels it MUST BE replaced! I posted several accidents in 2023-2024 where a worker was wearing a hi-vis vest that the reflective stripping had worn off. The workers were struck, at night, by trucks backing into loading docks. I am still unaware of OSHA citing 1910.132 in any of the cases. But if a business has calculated in the use of hi-vis/reflective gear and that gear was not properly maintained to achieve those safety features, that is a FAILURE in our controls/barriers/safeguards. We NEED to be auditing this PPE safeguard just like other PPE usages.
Here is the story out of the UK…
