PPE and Safety Workwear is an area governed by standards, legislation and guidance. It can be hard to know which standards to follow for which industries and job roles. With over 30 years of experience in the market, LION are accustomed to getting questions about standards.
One question we get asked a lot, is “What is the RIS-3279-TOM standard?” (actually, we usually just get asked ‘What is RIS-TOM?’). This is a question you may have asked yourself if you have been looking at buying orange hi-vis workwear. Whether or not you need to abide by the RIS-3279-TOM standard depends on whether you are in the rail industry or not.
What is RIS-3279-TOM?
The RIS-3279-TOM Standard is a High-Visibility Standard that states the minimum requirements for hi-vis clothing in the rail industry.
Who does the RIS-3279-TOM standard apply to?
The criteria set out in RIS-3279-TOM apply to rail staff who work lineside or near the line. The standard is for all high-visibility clothing to be worn in these roles.
This standard does not apply to staff on station platforms unless they are doing engineering or technical work within 1.25m of the platform edge.
What do I have to do to comply with the RIS-3279-TOM standard?
To comply with the standard, there are 4 areas that need your attention:
- Minimum area of visible high-visibility material
- Background material colour characteristics
- Retro-reflective material characteristics
- Identification and company markings on high-visibility clothing
Minimum Area of Visible Material
High-visibility clothing must meet the minimum requirements for a Class 2 garment as set out in BS EN ISO20471:2013.
What is a Class 2 Garment?
A class 2 garment has:
- Minimum background material of 0.5 m2
- Minimum retro-reflective material of 0.13 m2
This is so that all workers can be visible when they are operating near or on the line. This means that train drivers can give an audible warning. This requirement also enables staff such as site-wardens or look-outs to keep track of staff locations so that they can receive any necessary warnings and ensure further safety.
Do all garments have to be Class 2?
No! This is a popular myth, but it is not necessary to have every garment meet Class 2 specifications. So long as a Class 2 garment is worn and remains unobscured, this is still fine.
However, if your workers are likely to need to put on or take off layers, you need to ensure that at least one visible garment is Class 2.
Background Material Colour Characteristics
The colour of the background material of the garment must be fluorescent orange with chromaticity and luminance as stated below:
Fluorescent Orange
Chromaticity co-ordinates: x = 0.588, y = 0.371
Minimum luminance factor βmin: 0.4
Garments can change chromaticity with washing and general wear, so there is a margin of tolerance that the garment’s colour must remain within to continue to be compliant.
This margin is:
| Chromaticity Co-ordinates | |
|---|---|
| x | y |
| 0.610 | 0.390 |
| 0.560 | 0.380 |
| 0.585 | 0.355 |
| 0.640 | 0.360 |
This is to ensure that staff are visible when on or near the line, and also that variance in colour does not affect cohesion.
Retro-reflective Material Characteristics
There must be at least 0.13 m2 of reflective tape on a garment for it to be Class 2. This requirement is to aid sight of a worker in reduced lighting.
Identification and Company Markings on High-Visibility Clothing
If you want to stay compliant, you are only allowed three types of marking on your clothing:
- Company/Project Name
- Logo that identifies the company the individual is working for
- Titles or designations associated with incident management, such as:
- Rail Incident Officer (RIO)
- First Aider
- Press Officer
- Recovery Engineer
- Train Operations Liaison Officer (TOLO)
If you choose to have markings on your workwear, you still need to allow the minimum areas of background and retro-reflective materials to be showing.
Special Markings
There are two instances in which special markings are used:
- RIO uniforms
- First Aider uniforms
For RIO uniforms, the standard states that these should be ‘50mm wide fluorescent lime high brightness garment tape with a black diamond pattern across the surface consisting of one full diamond and one half diamond’.
For First Aiders, it is ‘green and white chequered tape’, only for hi-vis vests marked ‘First Aider’.
These special markings and variations are to easily identify the person of authority or aid in an emergency situation.
Note: the standard says that it is not a requirement for your hi-vis clothing to display a logo or company name. This is simply a matter of preference.
Is your gear compliant?
Not sure if your kit is compliant? If you’ve conducted a site audit recently and have noticed your workers’ kits are looking a bit, or worse that they are not wearing their safety workwear at all, you might not be compliant. If this is the case, it is time to review your team’s workwear and find a solution that works for you.
Book a no-obligation call with one of our in-house subject matter experts and talk through your concerns with somebody who can help.
