How To Buy A Reflective Safety Vest, Pay Attention To The Following Four Points

Nowadays, reflective safety vests have been widely used in traffic police, police, special police, sanitation, outdoor exploration, logistics and transportation, etc. However, if you are not careful during the purchase process, you may buy reflective safety vests that do not meet ANSI standards, which will hide many safety hazards for people working in risky areas. Experienced reflective safety vest purchasing units generally consult the merchant whether there is a qualified test report before purchasing, but inexperienced purchasing units often have no awareness of consulting the test report. They are cheap and do not know the quality standards of reflective safety vests. They are easy to suffer losses and are exploited by bad merchants. Poor quality reflective safety vests, after washing once, the reflective effect is greatly reduced, and they cannot play a safety protection role. They are uncomfortable to wear and have no quality. So how can we tell whether the reflective safety vest meets the standard without a test report? The following tips teach you to use the naked eye to distinguish whether the reflective safety vest meets the ANSI(American National Standards Institute) standard or OSHA(Occupational Safety and Health Administration):

1. Observe the safety vest reflective strip:

The reflective strip is the core part of the reflective vest. It should have a clear reflective effect. The area and width need to meet the ANSI standard. First, in a dark place, you can use the flash of your mobile phone or other light sources to illuminate the vest reflective strips to check whether the reflective effect is good, the color is bright, and the fit is good. Secondly, observe that the reflective vest has at least one reflective tape around the torso (the maximum inclination angle of the reflective tape to the horizontal line is ±20°. If there are two reflective tapes, the spacing is required to be no less than 50mm), and there is one on each shoulder that extends at least 5.9 inch from the shoulder seam to the chest and back, or is connected to the reflective tape around the torso. Finally, use a ruler to measure that the minimum width of the reflective tape of the reflective safety vest of class 2 and class 3 (for medium and high risk workers) is 50 mm; the minimum width of the reflective tape of the reflective safety vest of level 1 (for low risk workers) is 25 mm.

2. Check the safety vest material:

The material of the reflective safety vest should have a certain degree of wear resistance, dirt resistance and breathability. You can touch the fabric of the safety vest with your hand to see if there are any problems such as damage, dirt or irritating odor.

3. Check the safety vest seams:

The seams of the reflective safety vest should be smooth and tight. You can observe whether there are thread ends, leaks, etc. at the seams of the vest to ensure the durability of the vest. You can also pull the seams to observe whether the reflective safety vest has dropped.

4. Check the safety vest label:

Qualified reflective safety vests should indicate the manufacturer, product model, and other information, and should also comply with relevant national or industry standards, such as ANSI/ISEA 107-2020 or OSHA.

The above are 4 tips for identifying whether the reflective vest meets the standards. Units with conditions can ask the laboratory to arrange tests and judge whether the reflective safety vest meets the standards based on the data. In short, when purchasing reflective safety vests, you should choose formal channels and try to ask the merchant to produce test reports or other certification documents to ensure that the purchased products meet national standards.