Carrie

I think you are mixing up two hazards/risks here. High vis is needed for visability not phyical protection, what are you actualy trying to protect them from? Safet cloathing companies offer high vis shorts which may provide the visibility but clearly would offer no phyical protection below the knee.

I had similar issues a while back. Hi-vis does inhibit sweating because of what it is made of and can make operatives hot. We did look at other makes but at the time they were all the same.

We only had a requirement for hi-vis trousers if they were doing the traffic management or working in a live traffic area and not in the coned off working area. We did ban shorts but normal work trousers would offer the same protection against items striking their legs.

I believe the requirement of Safety at Street Works and Road Works A Code of Practice is for upper body hi-vis but think there are best practice guides produced by the Highway Agency or BSi that advice whole body hi-vis. It does depend on the risks.

You could also engage your own occupational health professional, normally another doctor to question the decision of their GP.

There are many types of hi-vis fabrics available these days with varying levels of 'breathability' - to help the comfort of the wearer - some are better than others, some are more expensive than others.

From what I can gather from your scenario if they are working road side (combined with airborne debris) then they should be wearing full hi-vis. Supplying them with something of comfort then becomes a more cloudy area.

If they are wearing hivis that turn out to be nothing more than sweat bags I can sympatise with them. If you are supplying with top end Gore-Tex (or equivalent) then I'm not sure what else you can be expected to do.

Construction workers in very hot countries wear full PPE, including trousers and sleeves, head /neck covers and hard hats.

Very high temperatures.

Alfasev is this question related to Qatar? I think not, however have a look at this link, UAE where other causes are to blame for fatalities on construction sites.

http://www.meed.com/supp...e-safety/3006550.article

God forbid anyone should get sunburn from wearing shorts. Whatever happened to sun cream.

What about hi vis cotton cargo pants? These might be more comfortable as they allow for sweating and it is similar to any other summer trousers one might wear.

Excellent points above - just a quick extra bit of info:

To do its job, high-vis clothing needs to be noticeable. The way this is managed is by ensuring enough of it is visible to those you want to take preventative action (drivers in this case).

Specifically on highways, the reason people wear high-vis trousers is that their upper body may be obscured when carrying signs, cones, etc and therefore not enough area of high-vis remains visible to protect them.

Someone carrying signs is likely to obscure the same area covered by shorts, therefore that's why this wouldn't be possible. The high-vis trousers I've worn have been pretty roomy about the legs - definitely not even close to being the most uncomfortable to wear for a hot day.

If you're NOT carrying items which obscure your upper body, then upper-body high-vis alone can be provided which meets the standard required, but because this isn't always likely a blanket adoption of trousers is usually the done thing.

Good luck!

Hi all, Thanks for your comments.

Just for clarity Im not meaning the heat of Qatar, Im just talking about the heat of (sometimes) sunny Berkshire. So not quite as extreme, but seeminly hot enouugh for some staff to go home sick from heat exhaustion apparently.

I think I will do some shopping around and see what is available on the market.

Could be.... see http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg337.pdf. Skin cancer is increasing and it down to more people being out in the sun. A significant proportion of this must be work related. This could be the asbestos of the 21st century.