Why Hi Vis vests/clothing should be part of your On-Farm PPE - See the Photographic evidence by James Picot

Here at LKL, we have previously discussed that as part of your transport/pedestrian collision risk reduction measures, farmers should include hi-vis vests or clothing in their PPE requirements when completing certain jobs on the farm. Being hit by a moving vehicle is still among the top 5 causes of fatal and major accidents on farms.

Many other industries make wearing hi-vis clothing a mandatory requirement, such as working in warehousing and logistics and on construction sites where there are a lot of vehicle movements or where staff carry out work activities on the roadsides e.g. groundskeeping.

However, in farming, it has not been a requirement as there were concerns that cattle found them disturbing.

Our Regional Manager, James Picot, recently carried out an experiment on the farm to see how much of a difference wearing hi-vis vests made to drivers spotting colleagues who were also working in the vicinity of vehicles.

A typical example is mucking out and making up bedding in barns whilst scraper tractors and other vehicles are in the area.

Often, lighting is of fairly low level and is also made worse on a winter's day.  Drivers are higher up than pedestrians and can be looking out of small windows or using mirrors that might not always be completely clean.

As you can see from the photographs, wearing hi-vis vests made pedestrians significantly easier to spot.  In low light levels and wearing dark clothing, it can be easy for pedestrians to blur into the background.

We recently visited the M&S Milk Producers conference, which was held on a host M&S farm.

All guests attending were required to wear hi-vis vests or clothing.

During the visit, we saw no evidence that the cows were disturbed or startled by the brighter clothing.

We would, therefore, recommend that farmers include hi-vis vests/clothing as part of their PPE and ensure all staff use them when working in areas where there are vehicle movements alongside pedestrians - such as in yards and barns. Ensure that they are well-fitting and done up.

(Note they don't need to be worn when using machinery or equipment etc. or during any procedure where they could cause entanglement)

For hi-vis vests with the LKL logo, get in touch with your Regional Manager.