Reflexite, world leading manufacturer of high visibility microprismatic PPE tape has today launched a campaign to ensure the safety of road workers by offering a free ‘conformity’ service to road workers regarding their PPE visibility tape. Latest statistics available from the HSE show that in 2005/2006 there were 57,400 road builders or road repairers working on the roads and that a total of 532 accidents occurred during this period, 7 of which were fatal. These figures are really no better than the 2002/2003 figures supplied by the HSE which saw 518 accidents occurring including 8 fatalities, with a similar number of workers, which begs the question, what is going wrong?

With the New Road and Street Works Act updated in 2002 why are there still so many fatalities? It could be down to the inferior red/orange PPE tape used on the garments of some road workers that has been flooding the marketplace which is non conformable to the New Road and Safety Act (2002) and EN471:2003. This has recently come to the attention of Reflexite who is calling to road worker employers to be stringent about their employees PPE tape and ensure the very safest PPE tape is used on garments, tape that complies with specification requirements.

This problem where the market is filled with non compliant PPE tape is particularly prolific on some of the orange/red tape commonly used among people working on the roads. Tony McCaugherty, European Specifications Manager for Reflexite says of the problem, "When working on fast moving roads the dangers are much greater. Increasing visibility by using contrasting red/orange tape against the fluorescent yellow background fabric is extremely effective. Unfortunately there are products that are filtering into the market that do not meet the requirements of the Street works act and Chapter 8. These coloured tapes do not reflect anywhere near the EN471 minimum and are putting unwitting users at risk. To be sure you are complying you can check for the Reflexite logo and prism or contact the Reflexite office who will be able to confirm whether the reflective tape meets the levels of performance needed."

Reflexite are suggesting users and those who specify PPE garment tape ensure they are complying with the required specifications by advising a risk assessment of users current PPE. It is vital that if you or your staff are working on roads where the speed limit is over 50 miles per hour then the PPE workwear requirement is that the garment should be a class 3, it should have shoulder bands (design covered by clause 4.2.3 (b) of EN471:2003) and the reflective material should comply with table 5 of EN471 (level 2). These requirements are also specified within Chapter 8, part 2, operations.

Reflexite GP340 tape is the only orange/red tape that has combined day time fluorescence and night time level 2, retroflection, that meets the requirement of EN471:2003 table 2. If you are using orange/red shoulder band tape that is not Reflexite, your garment may not comply with the above.

Remember you have a ‘Duty of Care’ towards your employees to be safe whilst they are performing their duties. For further information or clarification please call David Marklew on 07894 512259.

Reflexite is the world’s leading supplier of retroreflective tapes; all based on the highest performing technology available in the market today – microprismatic technology. The company is the original inventor of this unique way to create a high degree of retroreflection, which gives higher visibility in adverse weather conditions and poor lighting as well as maximum daytime visibility.