Too much hi-vis can make you invisible

With hi-vis clothing sold everywhere from office supply outlets to The Warehouse, health and safety experts warn we may be relying too heavily on fluoro gear to prevent workplace accidents.

Zane Yates, founder of Palmerston North health and safety firm Peoplesafe, said buying a $5 highvisibility vest from a bargain bin was no substitute for good safety practices, and it was possible to have too much of a good thing.

‘‘The reason we have a warning light in a car is that, when it goes on, you notice it. But if it was on the whole time, you wouldn’t.’’

Yates said police had the right approach because they only wore hi-vis out on the road when they needed to be seen.

Peoplesafe recently made a video for its clients highlighting some fun facts about hi-vis gear – such as that Kiwi railway workers began wearing it in 1964, and equestrians preferred pink – but with the serious message that it didn’t make wearers ‘‘bulletproof’’.

‘‘It’s designed to make you visible, but it doesn’t give you superhuman powers,’’ Yates said.

‘‘Truck drivers are a good example: They get out of their truck, put their hi-vis on, and stand right by the forklift that’s unloading their truck. If something falls off they’re going to get squashed.’’

Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce consultant Steve Cooper said salespeople were going around building sites claiming high-visibility gear was mandatory, which was untrue.

‘‘There’s nothing in any law anywhere that says you have to wear hi-vis clothing.’’

Cooper said wearing fluorescent clothing made good sense on work sites where visibility was crucial, but if it was worn as a matter of course, that could lead to complacency.

‘‘With small builders I say if there’s a risk, put your hi-vis on, if there’s not, just wear regular clothing, so that hi-vis becomes an attention-grabbing thing.’’

A wider range of hi-vis colours had also seen the introduction of work site ‘‘coding systems’’, with visitors in lime green or lemon, while everyone else wore orange.

Worksafe chief executive Gordon Macdonald said being dressed up to the nines in hi-vis clothing could give a ‘‘veneer of invulnerability’’ that was an illusion.

‘‘What you should be looking at is segregating vehicles from pedestrians because that will give you a better safety return for your investment, instead of just assuming that if you make everyone more visible, the trucks are going to miss them,’’ he said.