The norm for High Visibility, EN 471, is one of the most widely known and used norms under the PPE directive. In June 2013, The Official Journal of the European Union published the new standard EN ISO 20471:2013. This harmonized standard has replaced the former standard EN471: 2004+A1:2007. Starting October 2013, therefore, all High Visibility products have to be CE marked and certified to ISO EN 20471.
The title of the new standard «High visibility clothing - Test methods and requirements» removes the previous distinction between professional and nonprofessional use and the new standard is concerned with risk assessment and risk analysis for the selection of the correct visibility clothing for high risk scenarios. Annex A (informative) defines the various factors that need to be taken into account when conducting such an analysis. The standard specifies the requirements for high visibility clothing which is capable of visually signaling the user s presence. The new standard has broadened the usage base and a distinction between different types of risk situations has been made. The defined risk situations will be the basis for which norm is applicable for the user. ISO EN 20471 is applicable to high-risk situations.
X= Surface of fluorescent and retro-reflective material (3 levels). Class 3: Highest Level Highest level of protection - required for any persons working on or near motorways or dualcarriage ways or airports. Must incorporate a minimum of 0.80m2 of background material and 0.20m2 of retro-reflective materials. (4 metres of 5cm wide reflective tape). Class 2: Intermediate Level Required for any persons working on or near A and B class roads, also for delivery drivers. Must incorporate a minimum of 0.50m2 of background material and 0.13m2 of retroreflective material. (2.60 metres of 5cm wide reflective tape). Class 1: Minimum Level Minimum level of protection required for any persons working on a private road or to be used in conjunction with a higher classed garment. Must incorporate a minimum of 0.14m2 of background material and 0.10m2 of retroreflective material. (2 metres of 5cm wide reflective tape).
The requirements are depending on which part of the body the garment is covering (torso only, torso and arms, legs, torso and legs and finally garments covering torso, arms and legs) and not as in the previous version, where the type of garment was the basis for the design (jackets, waistcoats etc). In the new norm, all class 3 garments must cover the torso and have as a minimum either sleeves with retro reflective bands or full length trouser legs with retro reflective bands. This ends the possibility to CE mark sleeveless class 3 garments. If a short sleeve is covering a torso band, retroreflective tape must be fitted on the sleeve. It is now also possible to CE mark separate garments together (instead of a single garment) to fulfill a requirement for a certain performance class. This is achieved by a so called clothing ensemble: e.g. by certifying jackets and trousers together. The possibility to CE mark harnesses has been removed in the new standard.
Yellow color is taken as example Yellow, orange-red, fluorescent red
Garment Design/Ensemble The design requirements set out in the standard EN ISO 20471:2013 maintains a three-class system for garments, which is based on minimum areas of visible high-visibility materials present in a garment, whereby class 3 garments provide the highest level of conspicuity. The standard also permits this performance class to be met by specifying a single garment or an ensemble for instance, a class 2 jacket and a class 2 pair of trousers might be combined and certified as a class 3 ensemble. Where an ensemble is specified, this will be deemed to meet the requirements of the standard only when the supplier provides clear instructions on how the classification has been achieved. A class 3 garment is required to cover the torso and have sleeves with reflective bands or/and trouser legs with reflective bands. The area of background or retroreflective material that is covered by badges logos, lettering etc shall be excluded from the calculation of the required minimum area (unless these additions meet the requirements).
The 3 high visibility colours (fluorescent yellow, orange-red and red) with respective colour coordinates and luminance factors remain unchanged, but the background materials must now undergo color testing also after washing. The testing must be performed after the maximum number of washing cycles according to the care recommendations indicated by the manufacturer, alternatively 5 cycles if such indication is missing. Colorfastness requirements to washing/drying of non-fluorescent background material has been reduced. Adjustments have also been made to the dimensional change requirements of both knitted and woven materials. Mechanical properties are also changed: tensile/bursting strength requirements are reduced as well as tear strength requirements for on laminates/coated materials. Physiological performance requirements, i.e. water vapour and thermal resistance are now specified in more detail. Tabards and waistcoats are exempted from physiological performance requirements.
Harnesses are excluded from the scope of the new standard and cannot be certified as meeting EN ISO 20471:2013. Section 4.2 "Specific design requirements" has been completely revised. A new requirement is that background (fluorescent) material must encircle all relevant parts (torso, arms and legs as appropriate) with a minimum width of 50mm. Allowable gaps for fastening systems and seams remains the same as is the maximum angle for torso and leg bands (20 ). Some changes in the design specifications include: Garments only covering the torso for example, vests and tabards Retroreflective strips are not counted when considering the need for background material to encircle the torso. The background material shall maintain a minimum width of 50 mm i.e. there must be at least 50 mm of background material below the armholes. Garments covering the torso and arms such as jackets, shirts, coats and t-shirts If a sleeve blocks a clear view of a horizontal band on the torso, then the sleeve should be surrounded by a reflective band. If a sleeve blocks a clear view of two horizontal bands on the torso, then the sleeve must be surrounded by two reflective bands with at least 50 mm from each other, with the lower band at least 50 mm from the end of the sleeve. For jackets with removable sleeves, the sleeves must be fluorescent and contain retroreflective bands.
Garments covering legs for instance, waistband and bib and brace trousers, and shorts Bib & Brace trousers can no longer meet Class 3 as they do not cover the torso. They no longer need to have a torso band. Garments covering torso and legs including coveralls without sleeves Garments covering torso, arms and legs for example, coveralls with sleeves. From this autumn 2013 there will be a new international standard for high visibility clothing, replacing EN 471. Clothes in class 1 or 2 can be combined to obtain class 3. It will be specified on the CE-label in your Fristads Kansas high visibility garment. Check the labels to safely choose the right class and combination for the proper protection your work requires. The symbol indicates that the garment is certified and approves to EN ISO 20471. The number next to the symbol shows the class. All reflective tape are in the highest category referred to as category 2 in EN 471. The new standard requires that high visibility garments are tested after washing. This will increase your safety, and ensures the same protection after, as well as pre wash. All three high visibility colours: yellow, orange and red, pass the high demands of the EN ISO 20471 standard. The contrast colour can be any colour as long as it passes the EN ISO 20471 test and is not bleeding or decreases the protection of the fabric after wash.
The major changes that have been made to the standard below: 1. Retro-reflective tape - Class 1 retro-reflective tape is no longer an option, ISO 20471 requirements for single performance retro reflective tape is identical to the EN 471 Class 2 tape. However the for performance after washing the test method differs as 20471 requires each cycle to be a wash and dry cycle whereas 471 only required washing after the last cycle. (Product markings no longer will state the performance class of the retro reflective tape). Combined performance tape may still be used on class 1 garments. (again, the test method has changed). 2. Placement of retro-reflective tape - the mandatory patterns for retro-reflective tape remain unchanged, except now it I clarified that additional bands of tape may be used to achieve the required areas. 3. Class 3 garments must now be garments which cover the torso and have either full length sleeves and or full length legs. 4. Garments with short sleeves if the sleeve obscures a torso band of retro reflective tape must now have a band of retro-reflective tape about the sleeves also.
1. If the maximum number of washes (or Dryclean cycles) is stated by the manufacturer then fluorescent background material must meet the chromaticity and luminance requirements after the specified number of washes. If no maximum number of washes is stated then it must meet after 5 washes and this must be reflected in the user information. 2. Tensile strength requirement on fabrics has been reduced 3. Burst strength requirement on fabrics has been reduced 4. Tear strength requirement on coated fabrics/laminates has been reduced 5. Colourfastness to perspiration has had the staining requirement increased to 4 6. Colourfastness to washing/drycleaning has had the staining requirement reduced to 4 for nonfluorescent fabrics. 7. Water vapour permeability requirements for fabrics (Excluding Coated/laminate fabrics for protection against rain(not required for vests/waistcoats) requirement has been amended to <5 m 2 Pa/W or water vapour permeability index <=0.15
MICROPRISM - light strikes each of the three surfaces of the microprism before returning to the source. The microprism provides more reflective surface area than a glass bead and will reflect up to 250% more light. The microprism s economical use of surface area delivers a higher level of performance in all applications, which results in superior long distance visibility of the vehicle and greater awareness by the motoring public. GLASS BEADS - glass bead reflective technology is over 60 years old. In a glass bead reflective system, light strikes the back surface of the bead and returns to its source. Glass bead technology differs from microprismatic technology in that reflective glass beads vary in size and placement, therefore creating inconsistency in the reflectivity. This technology returns light by as much as 30% unless affected by heavy rainfall that causes the reflective optics to scatter the light rather than reflect to the source causing blackouts of the reflective material until it dries again. LUMINANCE - The amount of light that we see from a retroreflective surface - measured in units of candelas per metre squared. Luminance refers to what the driver actually sees. Luminance contrast - Directly the way the background of an object and its luminance interact. Luminance ratio - The ratio between the luminance (photometric brightness) of any two areas in the visual field.
ENTRANCE ANGLE - The angle made when a light beam strikes at a point on the surface and a line perpendicular to the surface at the same point. It is often used when discussing for example the angularity of reflective materials when applied to backgrounds. OBSERVATION ANGLE - The angle between the line formed by a light beam striking a surface and the line formed by the retroreflected beam at an observer's eye. For example, this angle will be larger for the driver of a bus or truck than it will be for the driver of a standard passenger vehicle. Observation angle will also be larger for a driver and vehicle who are very close to a retroreflective sign or device. Large observation angles cause reflective surfaces to appear less bright to the observer. Viewing angle - then angle between the retroreflector axis and the observation axis.
FLUORESCENCE - The giving off of light by a substance when it is exposed to electromagnetic radiation, such as visible light. As long as the light or electromagnetic radiation continues to bombard the substance, electrons in the fluorescent material become excited but return very quickly to lower energy, giving off light, always of the same frequency. This increases the conspicuity of a product increasing the visibility in daytime as well as night-time. RETROREFLECTIVE MATERIAL - material which is a retroreflector but which is not intended to comply with the requirements of this International Standard for background material SEPARATE-PERFORMANCE MATERIAL - material intended to exhibit either background or retroreflective properties but not both COMBINED-PERFORMANCE MATERIAL - material intended to exhibit both background and retroreflective properties ORIENTATION-SENSITIVE MATERIAL - material having coefficients of retroreflection that differ by more than 15 % when measured at the two rotation angles ε 1 = 0 and ε 2 = 90