In an industry first Arco has launched a specially designed women’s Hi-Vis hazardwear range, including a Hi-Vis jacket, two styles of trousers, a waistcoat, a Hi-Vis soft shell and two options of polo shirt.
Working in consultation with women across the industries to design its new safety garments, the range features practical and stylish Hi-Vis hazardwear that fits a woman’s body shape properly, whilst delivering a high level of protection to keep them safe at work.
The range has been designed to fit the contours of the female body and the garments come in standard women’s sizing, for example 8, 10, 12, as opposed to the traditional men’s or unisex sizing of S, M and L.
Wearing the correct Hi-Vis clothing is crucial; it’s also a simple, cost-effective solution to ensuring that workers remain visible in any working conditions. The fluorescent material that Hi-Vis garments are made from provide day time visibility, whilst the reflective bands around the chest, arms or legs provide night time reflectivity, resulting in 24-hour visibility.
Richard Sansom, Product and Procurement Manager at Arco said, “For PPE to protect you and feel comfortable to wear, it must be properly fitted. What we’ve seen in our industry for far too long, is women simply supplied with small men’s sizes which are not designed to fit the contours or proportions of the female body. The new Arco Women’s Hi-Vis Hazardwear range has been designed in conjunction with women in the industry and for the first time provides employers with a collection of garments to protect the female workforce.”
All garments in the range have been tested and approved to meet EN ISO 20471 for high visibility clothing and we have a range of suitable GO/RT certified garments for use in the rail industry.
The Hi-Vis jacket provides a waterproof and breathable shell with a two-band-and-brace configuration, keeping workers both dry and comfortable. The Hi-Vis Waterproof Trousers, which compared with a traditional unisex garment; this trouser provides an appropriate fit, offers exceptional comfort for the wearer, whilst giving protection when working in adverse conditions.
The second trouser that Arco has also developed is a Hi-Vis Cargo Trouser for a more stylish but practical and comfortable design. Both trousers hold three bands of reflective tape to ensure visibility when trousers are tucked into boots or bending down, to help reduce the risk of accidents or injury to workers.
On the polo shirts the ‘brace’ reflective bands have been removed so they do not inhibit the chest area, and are made of stretch tape – modifications which help to improve fit, comfort and style.
For further information on the new range, to read the Women’s Hi-Vis Hazardwear Expert Guide, call your local branch or visit www.arco.co.uk/womenshivis.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJDBhQv1JKg
Lauren – I was very disappointed in reading this article that reference was made to ‘8, 10, 12’ sizing as if this was the equivalent of small, medium and large. A little inaccurate and perhaps inappropriate given that so many girls/women experience eating disorders or problems with their view of their size/weight?
Regards
Sue
Thank you for your comment, Sue. I understand your point and I assure you that I wasn’t intending to directly compare the sizes 8, 10 and 12 to S, M, L. Instead, I was trying to explain the difference in the method of labelling – that using letters is the formatting for unisex or male clothing, whereas numbers are used on women’s clothes.
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