Posted By Ian I am currently looking at the purchase of some new overall trousers and have been highlighted to the fact that it will be a legal requirement that if operatives work on or near the highway the overalls, which at present are dark green, will have to have reflective strips on the bottom? We carry out mowing and litter picking near roads of no more than 50mph. All operatives wear the appropriate high visibility vests or coats as necessary to the speed. Is it necessary to wear reflective strips on the bottom of overalls as no work is carried out at night when the reflective strips would be effective or should I be looking at getting high visibility trousers with the reflective strips to match the jackets. Any help or pointers to any official guidance would be most welcome. Many Thanks

Posted By Neil R You need to consult the New Roads and Streetworks act and the 'safety at streetworks and roadworks code of practice' these will tell you what is a requirement and whats not. As said before though, its good practice to have reflective strips, hi-vis trousers as it increases the visibility distance for drivers.

Posted By Colin Reeves "Is it necessary to wear reflective strips on the bottom of overalls as no work is carried out at night when the reflective strips would be effective" So your workforce do not work after 3pm in the winter? Reflective strips work in dull light as well as darkness so a good idea when their visibility is one of their main protections. Colin

Posted By Peter Moran Its been good practice for a while on high-speed highways work to wear orange trousers with double reflective banding around the knee/lower leg area. Many surfacing contractors started issuing these after an incident a few years ago where a worker narrowly missed injury whilst bending over to carry out routine work...the reflective long-sleeved vest was then not so visible to vehicle drivers especially when reversing. As I understand it however these trousers do not attain Class 3 conspicuosity as per double banded long-sleeved vests/jackets. Although in a lower speed environment, these trousers would be of great benefit and do add an air of professionalism which is one of the comments the public often mention in comments to the HA information hotline.

Posted By Bob Y More recently all of our grounds maintenance workers and litter picking crews and similar who spend a great deal of their time on highways of various speeds are kitted out 'top to bottom' with hi vis. Just made sense to the manager and me to try and ensure that they are as visible as possible