09 February 2009
Becky Allen

Fake and substandard high-visibility clothing is putting workers' lives at risk. Documents seen by HSW magazine's sister publication Health and Safety Bulletin (HSB) show that major retailers throughout England have been selling substandard high-visibility garments. And, following HSB inquiries, the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) has promised to fund an investigation into the problem.

The garments were bought and tested by the Reflective Equipment Manufacturers Association (REMA) during 2007 and 2008 in a  dozen local authority (LA) jurisdictions in England, including Essex, Hertfordshire, West Yorkshire and Lancashire.

REMA found substandard garments on sale in two of the UK's largest supermarket chains, as well as a car-accessory chain and two multi-chain discount stores.

Toilet paper reflects better

Some of the garments tested by REMA were almost useless in making wearers - such as road workers or cyclists - visible at night. The reflective tape on one garment measured only 4 candelas, compared with the 330 candelas specified by EN471 - the European standard on high-visibility clothing for professional use. Martin Lund of REMA and manufacturer EP Workwear told HSB: "A piece of toilet paper would reflect more light ... It's all labelled correctly, so people think they are protected; but they're not. It's shocking and it makes me angry."

REMA believes the problem is widespread, pointing to a 2005 survey by the Royal Spanish Automobile Club which found that three-quarters of a sample of 100 high-visibility vests failed to comply with EN471. "If it was 74% then, it's more likely to be 90% now," Lund says. Nor is the problem a matter of just clothing and substandard materials. In 2008, Reflexite - the company built by the inventors of one of the two types of retroreflective systems - successfully sued a UK supplier of traffic cones after discovering that the reflective sheeting contained forged copies of the company's logo.

There are no accurate figures as to the extent of the problem in the UK. An HSE spokesperson told HSB that supply and standards issues were BERR's responsibility, with the HSE's enforcement activity limited to whether or not workers wore high-visibility personal protective equipment (PPE).

As the HSE had no information from its inspectors on whether substandard/fake high-visibility gear had been implicated in accidents, there was little acknowledgement within the HSE that there was a problem.

And, although REMA reported its findings to all 12 Trading Standards Authorities (TSAs) in the areas where it found the substandard gear, the authorities' overseeing body - the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) - said it was not aware of a major problem.

Asked whether TSAs tested high-visibility garments on sale in shops, a TSI spokesperson told HSB: "We'd need direction from BERR before we spent
scarce resources in this area."

Government promises action

After HSB raised the concerns with BERR, officials looked into the situation. A spokesperson later told HSB: "We have been in contact with REMA and one
or two others about the perceived problems with high-visibility garments. We have promised to bring this to the attention of [TSAs] by writing to each LA
seeking interest in carrying out a BERR-funded market surveillance project. This will now be done at the start of the next financial year, as the budget for
2008/09 was already overstretched."

BERR will offer funding to a consortium of TSAs during 2009/10, "with a view to assessing the problem of noncomplying high-visibility garments. Pending the outcome of the project, TSAs will be asked to take any necessary enforcement action" under PPE Regulations. REMA is also launching a high-visibility checker to help employers assess their garments.

As well as action among retailers, REMA wants to see HM Revenue & Customs tackle the issue before the goods reach the UK market. Lund puts the cost of equipment that customs officials would need to check imports of high-visibility clothing in the region of £10,000 per port. "If we're picking it up in a supermarket, it's too late," says Lund. "We need dockside checks to prevent these goods from coming into the country in the first place. Customs open containers for lots of reasons - why not PPE?

The technology you need to check whether this gear's compliant isn't expensive. You could use hand-held devices that could do spot checks
cheaply and easily," he told HSB.

 

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Health and Safety Bulletin is the UK's leading health and safety policy journal. For subscription details, click here.

Categories: Personal protective equipment (PPE), Risk assessment, Risk assessment, News, Accident reduction, Accident reduction, HSE, Road safety



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