What is a Life Jacket?
A life jacket or safety vest/jacket is an essential supplement for anyone taking part in industrial activities. Safety vests are the safety gear that is necessary to keep personnel visible to other people, especially when working along roads or other places. The standards for safety vests are no different. However, they are also important for industrial needs as well such as in construction activities. For example, Safety jackets are worn by people that work at construction sites who have to follow a particular dress code.
For men and women who work in the construction environment, activity-specific life vests provide the highest levels of safety. Since safety jackets are designed for the purpose of keeping the wearer clearly in view, they make abundant use of colors that can always be seen and glow in the dark. For example, fluorescent colors such as green, yellow and orange make it easier for workers to see and locate one another in dim lighting conditions.
Also, for night work, which greatly increases the potential hazards, workers can wear a lighted safety jacket. The jackets act as a light source that makes your vest or the stripes on your vest glow for higher visibility. There’s another type of safety jacket called the LED safety jacket (light-emitting diode), that lights you up while you’re working.
List of 5+ Major Reasons for the Importance of Safety Life Jackets
Here’s why wearing a life jacket at work is of paramount importance to your safety.
#1. Construction Activities
At the construction site, the visibility of workers or flaggers is pertinent to their safety. Construction workers typically wear garments with a variety of fluorescent colors, including orange, yellow or green. These garments can be construction safety vests, shirts or jackets. They provide an easy way to identify employees and their location within a construction site.
#2. Traffic Activities
Safety jackets used around traffic signals are all reflective. These traffic safety vests commonly have a zippered front closure and are available in a solid material, such as cotton or fabric. They are massively put to use in congested areas with high traffic volume. Safety vests are also suitable for high traffic areas where speeds exceed 55 miles per hour.
#3. Usage for Emergency Personnel
Blue safety jackets are typically worn by emergency response personnel. The blue color is important as it quickly differentiates medical and paramedical teams from other individuals at the scene of a traffic accident, fire, or other emergency. If in case of an emergency where there are mass casualties, a blue safety jacket can be utterly helpful.
#4. Water-Related Activities
Safety jackets also provide high visibility professional quality wear during water activities that may have lifesaving capabilities. During rainfall when the normal visibility drops, using highway safety vests designed for high visibility are considered essential in rainy conditions.
#5. Useful in Extreme Weather Conditions
If you work in a climate that is extremely cold in winters yet very warm in summers, a safety jacket expands when you’re required to wear heavy outer clothing and contracts for lightweight summer work wear. Should you need to work in a situation that poses a potential fire danger, you are safer with a heavy-duty safety jacket.
#6. Overall Safety
Last but not the least, High-visibility safety vests are often the first, and the only thing keeping an employee visible in working conditions with less than prerequisite lighting. For instance, drivers and equipment operators may not always have the time to stop and check for other employees in the area. Wearing a high-visibility jacket allows them to remain aware of personnel that may be in the vicinity and in imminent danger of being hit by vehicles or work equipment. Thence, they are able to avoid running over other co-workers, preventing potential accidents and saving lives. These days there are many high-visibility jackets that come with logos printed on the back. They help individual crew members distinguish themselves, or their identity from employees of other companies. Additionally, they help increase the public awareness of the company as well as their presence in the market. An employer should educate and inform his employees about the various tips of using life jackets to cultivate usage of protective safety wear amongst them.
Final Note About Safety Life Jackets
Safety Jackets act as the first line of defense for employees against certain work hazards, allowing them to carry out their duties diligently and securely. In this way, accidents are significantly reduced and workplace safety is effectively maintained.