Hi-viz workware

[DonB]

Chris Nevard's blog "Steam on Cement Quay" prompted the thought outlined in the thread title.

Just when did Hi-viz start to be used? were the railways first to issue it?

Chris responded to my question, based on photos, in the 70s.

Anyone got definitive dates? perhaps there was an edict from on high?

[jonhall]

I've seen a number of BR posters that date from c1967 covering hi-vis jackets as if that was a 'new' thing.

 

Jon

[Captain Kernow]

I'd agree with the late 1960s, possibly 1967. That was simply the standard short 'waistcoat' orange jacket, as far as I am aware, which remained virtually the only HV issue until well into the 1980s, IIRC. I recall being issued with a basic orange jacket, made from that horrible nylon-type material and with no reflective stripes when I first joined BR in 1981. I did also get issued with some rubberoid leggings, but can't recall if that was in 1981 or later. Certainly the trend for more cotton-type material and the start of reflective stripes came in the 1980s, I believe....

 

Now, of course, everything is 'orange' these days. There are even HV flat hats available in the catalogue, would you believe!

[beast66606]

There are even HV flat hats available in the catalogue, would you believe!

 

Us Northerners like to get fully dressed up CK When I was a nuke in the early 1980s, our safety gear was a donkey jacket

 

Orange HV in the 1970s was quite often tied around the waste rather than worn, and frequently oil caked.

[corax67]

I used this as question in H&S training courses I ran years ago - everyone thinks late 70's or early 80's but I was given a copy of a brief article in a 1964 issue of "The Railway Magazine" which spoke of the trial of orange "Fire-Fly" jackets for lineside workers around the Glasgow area. I think they were subsequently rolled out in other parts of the country in 1965.

 

If I can find the copy I will scan it onto here at some point.

[Oldddudders]

1967 sounds about right, and I think the first major campaign for wearing the things was for staff whose duties only occasionally took them on the track. I do not think at that stage that P Way staff used them, and am quite certain that station staff, including shunters, did not. I recall going to measure Battersea Pier Sidings in early 1968 in company with the RDR SM, and despite walking all the way from Victoria, going down the ramp of Platform 17, I don't think I was asked to wear one. In April or May of 1967 there was an accident to Dorman Long's foreman, in charge of the bridge renewal work on Grosvenor Bridge, who was hit by a train. If anyone can access the online copy of the report into this accident, there may be reference to HVVs in there. I suspect they were not being worn, nor expected to be so.

 

The early versions had a series of buttons down the upper chest, and were widely regarded as a hazard in themselves, due to the risk of snagging etc. By the late '70s velcro had replaced these, with the certainty that the vest would come apart before hanging or dragging the wearer.

 

Their use by traincrew is comparatively recent - probably the '80s, I should think.

[TheSignalEngineer]

In 1966 the Signal Technicians at Birmingham New Street had white (!!) donkey jackets with reflective shouler pads for use in the tunnels and at night.

[The Stationmaster]

I reckon more generally available in the late 1960s but certainly not worn - nor any requirement to wear them - by everybody. i was definitely wearing them out & about on the line in 1974 but I don't think I had been in 1973 so possibly the 'requirement (or 'encouragement'?) to wear one came around that time?

 

The early type - as Ian has already indicated - were positively dangerous for some tasks but particularly for shunting and I think the first velcro fastening issue came along in the latter part of the 1970s; I can't exactly place the date but I do remember they were absolutely useless as they got very dirty when worn for shunting and any attempt to wash them seriously enough to remove the grease etc also removed any vestige of 'hi-vis' so they rapidly fell out of favour. The next version was much better and I obtained one c.1978/80 as far as I can recall.

 

Footplate staff were given them in the early part of the 1980s although some depots had I think issued them earlier than that - they immediately became liners for the bottom of Drivers' bags in most cases although one or two blokes took to wearing them all the time.

 

Somewhere I might have the date when they became compulsory 'when on or near the line' but they were definitely required to be worn in such situations in June 1983 and it is possible the Rule Book was amended earlier than that in some supplement I can't immediately lay hands on (and I don't think I kept all the amendments to the 1972 book in any case).

[John M Upton]

The modern version such as my Hi-Vis vest now uses poppers rather than velcro so that they should (in theory) disintegrate if they get caught on something when on or about the line. Of course by my working out if the hi-vis is ripped off, the rest of me is probably going to go with it, almost certainly in rapidly pulled apart pieces, my Line Manager then has to send flowers to my mother and someone at Rosters will have a headache filling all my duties so I really hope I am never in a situation to find out!!

[Guest stuartp]

This takes us a little beyond the 'earliest use' but I posted this on the old forum in response to a question about whether Bachmann stripey orange P.Way men were appropriate with blue deisels (short answer - 'no').It's based on my own ER experience and what I was issued with since 1987, it confirms that use of HV was by no means universal even when it was supposed to be. The issue of traincrew using them as bag liners was quite common - as late as 1994 I was witness to an impressive stream of invective from a Carlisle Traction Inspector to a group of Preston road leaners who got off their 121/122 and wandered about without a vest between them while we were enjoying a brew in Kirkby Stephen box.

 

"Up to 1990ish - plain orange button-up vest, some staff start to appear in short velcro-fastened tabards. Tabards much hated by shunters and the like as it was easier to get tangled up in bits of wagon with potentially fatal results. Pway staff typically in jeans and donkey jackets with short orange vests, occasionally orange bib and braces. Some orange cotton dust jackets around but only fitters and flash types wore these. Some management grades got orange nylon anoraks. Many traincrew ignore HV vests altogether. Hardly anyone wears hard hats. No lettering on vests or other clothing. No reflective stripes on anything at this stage.

 

1990 onwards. Reflective stripes start to appear on vests and tabards, with a reflective BR arrow on the back (black on white patch). Staff wearing orange coats have to wear a reflective vest over the top during darkness. Stripes appeared white but went cream (and non-reflective) if you washed them at higher temperatures (i.e. hot enough to get grease out).

 

1992 onwards. Orange nylon coats get silver reflective stripes. Pway and fleet staff start to get cotton (?) coats with reflective stripes and (on Regional Railways at least) blue or grey facings on the pockets and collars.(Best coat I ever blagged, much better than the nylon horror. Looked particularly cool with a Stn Supervisors' braided peaked cap). Traincrew still treat HV clothing as something that happens to other people. Hard hats only worn on possessions, but only where designated, and not by traincrew on locos (unless non-provision of said hats can be used as an excuse to stay in the bothy and cancel the job).

 

1994 onwards - Gradual adoption of longer vests with more stripes, colour gets a bit more orange and a bit less yellow depending on supplier. PWay generally more orange and stripey by now. Goretex starts to appear. Railtrack alter the standard at five minute intervals leading to much confusion and variety, all of which completely passes traincrew by, although TOCs start to get a bit keener on traincrew wandering about with no vest on. 'RAILTRACK' lettering starts to appear across shoulders of coats and vests of Railtrack staff.

 

Network Rail onwards (ish). Lineside staff now mostly stripey Tango men in hard hats. Vests still issued to TOC staff, now generally long type with zips and presstuds, often with company logos on the back. Traincrew generally compliant by now."

[Guest stuartp]

management types

 

... easily identified by being the ones in spotless HV with the creases still in.

[Enterprisingwestern]

Done a bit of research on this one. Scattered instances of Hi Viz 2 button bibs seen in 1964, LMR region, early use on WCML electrification work and seems to have spread from there. Doesn't seem to have been mandatory, pictures of HV wearing men alongside jacket, tie and flat cap types of safety gear!

[Lady_Ava_Hay]

The growth of hi vis might well have been parallel with its efficacy and cost. As I understand it, the early hi-vis did not have the silver reflective tape as this was not seen as being necessary. Remember that steam and quite a bit of the early diesel stuff ran with no real lighting at all and, unless I am completely wrong here, P way staff were not expected to work in the dark on working i.e open, lines without a safety man positioned up the line with a red light and a whistle.

 

This of course was swept away by privatisation and the adoption of 'safety' measures that saved money rather than injuries.

 

The adoption of silver tape and its subsequent proliferation was mainly due to it costing a lot less as the means to make it accelerated. It also seems to repel oil but nobody has yet invented a way of making oily orange any more visible than it currently is in daylight.

[TheSignalEngineer]

The rules on how much reflective tape is used are laid down in EU standards, the current one dating from 2003 I think. The requirement to provide HV workwear was in an EU directive from 1989, but various British requirements pre-date this without being so specific.

[28XX]

To add my recollections, circa 1976 - 1982 the HV 'mini-vest' was often worn round the waist as a trouser-protector so we could sit down on the job, and thus leave the worst of the filth at work. Most men wore their own clothes, so in a gang there would be a wide variation of colours and styles. The young ones (me) wore rock & pop tee shirts and showed off our tanned muscles, the old lags stayed all wrapped up with baggy trousers, hats and jackets. We all had to study and be tested regularly as lookout-men, even if we might only be called on to do it rarely. The ganger usually appointed the weakest / injured / least technically competent / most hung-over member as lookout, who was then teased all day for 'doing no work' Happy days!

[wollastonblue]

IIRC in 1992 all Hi Viz on the railways, was put under a section of the European Safety code EN471. This is known in the PPE trade as BR Spec. A railway worker, is required to wear an Orange 2 + 1 (Braces, and Band of Reflective Tape) Waistcoat, with EITHER Velcro or Poppers across the shoulders, and the sides of the garment. The idea being that the waistcoat comes away easily if caught. BR Spec Orange Jackets, and Trousers, were not required to have the easy remove system. The jacket is required to be 2 + 2 (2 Braces, and 2 Bands of Reflective Tape) with the Trousers having 2 Bands of Reflective Tape. There used to be a BR Donkey Jacket with Hi Vis Orange on the Shoulder Pads, complete with Tartan Lining, the company I used to work for started selling them in the 70s, along with the mini BR Vest which was Orange with Buttons.

 

For people who have to wear Hi Viz for a living, I would suggest that you check the care instructions of the garment, as a certain Reflective tape, would no longer conform to safety standard after 10 washed, this means the garment needs to be replaced.