• Consensus on a proposed standard by a group or “consensus body” that includes representatives from materially affected and interested parties
• Broad-based public review and comment on draft standards
• Consideration of and response to comments submitted by voting members of the relevant consensus body and by public review commenters
• Incorporation of approved changes into a draft standard
• Right to appeal by any participant that believes that due process principles were not sufficiently respected during the standards development in accordance with the ANSI-accredited procedures of the standards developer

The ANSI organization worked with the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) to create a high-visibility safety apparel standard. In fact ANSI accredits ISEA as a standards-drafting organization; therefore, it is the secretariat of the standard.

For this course, we will simply be dealing with the ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 High-Visibility Safety Apparel and ANSI 207-2006 Public Safety Standard.

ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 Standard for High-Visibility Safety Apparel

The American National Standard for High Visibility Safety Products and Headwear (ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 is the authoritative guide for the design, performance specifications, and use of high-visibility and reflective apparel. The standard establishes three Performance Classes for high-visiblity safety apparel based on the wearer's activities, and determined by the total area of background and reflective materials used, with Class 1 representing the lowest level of visibility and Class 3 the highest.
"The revision doesn't change the basic requirements such as garment dimensions, color or retroreflective performance, with the exception of clearly prohibiting any type of sleeveless garment to be labeled Class 3 when worn alone."
All references to classes of garments and their use in specific environments based on vehicle speeds have been removed. Rather, the standard emphasizes garment selection on the basis of color and complexity of the work environment, the task load of the worker, separation of the worker from moving equipment and vehicles, and other work environment variables.

ANSI 207-2006 Public Safety Standard

• ANSI 207 is a new standard with a specific name, "Public Safety Vests" (PSV).
• Area requirements for fluorescent background material falls between ANSI 107 Class 1 and Class 2.
• A lesser background requirement allows for short designs giving tactical access to equipment belts.
• Retroreflective are requirements are the same as those for ANSI 107.
• ANSI 207 is not intended to replace, or be interchangeable with ANSI 107 Class 2 apparel. Law enforcement officers performing traffic control duties are still encouraged to follow ANSI 107 Class 2 or Class 3 guidelines whenever possible.
• The new standard suggests use of many design options such as break-aways, colored identifiers, loops, pockets, badge holders, and ID panels.
• The design options are intended to encourage innovative ways to meet end-user needs for design functionality, while still offering an effective high visibility garment.

Significant differences with the ANSI 107 standard. The primary distinction of the ANSI 207 standard is that the required fluorescent background material (450 square inches) falls between ANSI 107 Class 1 (217 square inches) and ANSI 107 Class 2 (775 square inches). This difference allows for design accomodation of equipment belts. The new standard also allows for design flexibility to incorporate colored panels to enhance easy, on-scene identification of wearers, as well as other options such as shoulder break-aways. In ANSI 207, the minimum area of retroreflective area is 201 square inches, same as the ANSI 107 requirement.

For apparel and any product really to be ANSI compliant, it has to undergo a Conformity Assessment. Conformity Assessments are an excellent measure of confidence: consumers have peace of mind because they know their purchase adheres to the ANSI standard when it says ANSI on it.

Learn even more about ANSI Compliant Apparel. Continue on or click any of the links below to go directly to that topic.