What is Safety Worth?

Most ramp personnel wear a safety vest, but what makes one vest different from another? And what are the legal requirements for safety apparel on the ramp? The new ANSI standard as well as the apparel material qualities can account for the former, but ramp crews wearing high-visibility safety apparel, beyond the simple vest, is a best practice some industry veterans feel is becoming a mitigation must.

ANSI

ANSI, the American National Standards Institute, is a private, non-profit organization that administers and coordinates the US voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. In other words, ANSI sets minimum requirements for manufactured products to meet a certain criteria, such as a class, field or size. This simplifies purchasing for end users because they can look for the appropriate criteria and know the manufacturer has met the requirements. At least, that is the case with a reputable manufacturer. Terry Burke, Pro Workwear, has strong feelings about the ANSI standard and encourages buyers to look into the company they get their safety apparel from. Just recently he heard of a manufacturer who claimed to use the 3M reflective tape, but actually used a non-3M look-alike. He also warns that some safety apparel manufacturers claim to meet ANSI standards when they in fact do not.

That being said, there has been a recent change to the ANSI standard dealing with high-visibility safety apparel which expands the standard to establish additional testing requirements for knitted background material, requires certificates of compliance, updates the classification of apparel and includes high-visibility headwear.

Knitted Material Testing: John Trimble, from Transportation Safety Apparel, details the change to the testing of knitted material, commonly known as the mesh background material of vests or other apparel. He says, "in the ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 standard they allowed the test to be given with the mesh material in four layers. However, it has now been changed to two-ply, meaning that the holes in the mesh will have to be much smaller."

Certificate of Compliance: ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 requires testing and certification by an independent, accredited third-party laboratory, says Teresa Kessinger, RPS Manufacturing Solutions. The results are then provided to the manufacturer certifying that it meets the ANSI standards. The manufacturer must have on file the new 2004 compliance certificate stating that that particular model meets a specific class, that all relevant materials have been third-party tested and that the amount of background and reflective materials used meet the requirements. These compliance certificates must be readily available if requested by a distributor or end-user.

Updated Classification: Another essential change, explains Trimble, is the updated classification of safety apparel garments. The 2004 standard eliminates the old reference to vehicle speed in the work environment as a requirement for a certain class of apparel to be worn. Instead, the required performance class references more details about the work environment; including the activities taking place, worker movements, proximity and exposure to traffic, etc.

"With each classification of garment you need to have more background and more reflective material," says RPS' Kessinger, "it just makes it more visible and safer." A class 3 certificated vest (class 3 being the safest rating for apparel) is now required to have at least small sleeves to be ANSI compliant.

Burke of Pro Workwear explains that the reason for the sleeve requirement is the visibility of arm movements. "[Highlighting of the] moving parts of the body are key." Burke also rationalizes that ramp crew probably don't need a Class 3 garment since speeds usually don't reach anywhere near 55 miles per hour or more on the tarmac, however, an enhanced Class 2 garment or an appropriately designed ensemble with the correct luminosity and reflectivity is essential to protect personnel and insure against litigation.