I recently wrote about hi vis workwear and how it now appeared to be everywhere in the UK, well it isn’t just us, here’s some thoughts about what is happening Down Under on the spread of this clothing.

It appears that like in the UK the number of people that are required to wear the high-visibility safety clothing is reaching such a level that it is in danger of destroying the original purpose of wearing it, to alert people to increased risk or danger in the workplace. The brightly coloured garments, usually made in polyester and other synthetic material, whether yellow, orange or lime green (that’s a new one on me) is fast becoming the new workplace uniform.

As in the UK, the use of this type of workwear is sensible, effective and necessary. However, the yellow safety jacket, or the many variations of it that appear, is becoming, according to one commentator “what the high-buttoned Mao jacket was to Communist China”. Its use is spreading to a point where it seems that people have simply lost any knowledge of common sense.

Everyone seems to be wearing them, police, security officers, postal workers, courier drivers, window cleaners and parking inspectors (traffic wardens to you and me), are now required to wear the clothing as part of their workwear. In addition certain city office workers are now being told to wear safety jackets, salesmen are being informed to wear them when going to there car’s in the office car park. It appears that it is even spreading to the stage that normal shirts are being manufactured with the reflective strips being built in to their design.

The argument both here and in Oz is that there is obvious wisdom in workers in high risk jobs, such as the emergency services and construction wearing this type of garment. You want them to be seen and to be as safe as possible. But in the overuse of this “new black” it could have the opposite effect to its intended use. Staff can become overconfident, even blasé as they believe that the wearing of safety clothing automatically makes them safe.

The overuse of safety clothing reduces its effectiveness. This type of clothing should automatically alert us to potential danger, but as it gets used in more and more situations its purpose as a visual warning grows less and less. It gets to the point where you see the ubiquitous yellow clothing and don’t associate it with genuine risk or danger.

 

The use of hi vis workwear needs to be used where it is really needed, the rest of us need to use a bit more common sense.