ANSI/ISEA 107-2015 American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel and Accessories

ANSI/ISEA 107-2015 is the American National Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel and Headwear. This standard provides an authoritative guide for the design, color, photometric and physical performance, use and test methods of high-visibility safety apparel including safety vests, hi vis jackets, bib coveralls, pants and harnesses. Based on different work environment, the standard classified the performance into three classes.

ANSI 107-2015 standard includes a “Type” structure that keeps off-road (“Type O”), roadway (“Type R”), and public safety (“Type P”) garments separate by application and work environment. The types are further broken down into classes 1, 2 or 3. Three classes help the user to choose the proper garments based on expected work environment risks.

TYPE O, CLASS 1 garments provides the minimum visibility to differentiate the wear from non-complex work environments where struck-by hazards will not be approaching at roadway speeds. It requires a minimum of 217 in² of background material and 155 in² of retro reflective or combined performance material.

TYPE R (Roadway use) garments are for occupational workers who are exposed to roadway traffic and who work in an environment with moving equipment/vehicles.

TYPE R, CLASS 2 garment is of intermediate level, for workers who will be exposed to traffic with speeds in excess of 25 mph. It requires a minimum of 775 in²(smallest size 540 in²) of background material and 201 in² of retro reflective or combined performance material.

TYPE R, CLASS 3 garments provide the highest level of safety, for workers who will be exposed to high speed traffic or reduced sight distances. It requires a minimum of 1240 in²(smallest size 1000 in²) of background material and 310 in² of retro reflective or combined performance material.

TYPE P CLASS 2 garments provides additional options for emergency responders, incident responders and law enforcement in temporary traffic control (TTC) zones. It requires a minimum of 450 in² of background material and 201 in² of retro reflective or combined performance material.

CLASS E as a supplement type of ANSI 107, can be applied to rain pants, bib pants, shorts etc. It can Combine with a Class 2 vest for an ANSI Class 3 ensemble; or a Class 3 vest to attain a higher level visibility. It requires a minimum of 465 in² of background material and 109 in² of retro reflective or combined performance material.