Waistcoat - what is it?

Waistcoat is only a detail of overalls or something more? Let's see who wears this kind of clothes. Employees of police, road service, airports, railway stations. Also in the uniform of this kind are obliged to walk people, whose duties include cleaning the city and territories adjacent to the carriageways. There is also a category of workers wearing overalls for their work, but we will not talk about them. Waistcoat is the subject of our conversation.

Clothing made of materials that provide good visibility in the daytime by applying fluorescent paints and bright colors (lemon, orange, etc.) to it, and also having special retroreflective inserts to ensure a person's visibility at night on the carriageway Part, is called signaling. According to GOST P 12.4.219-99, it is divided into three classes. The higher the level of danger, the higher the class. As a consequence, the area of the retro-reflective inserts is larger. The highest degree of protection is the third class, the ratio of materials is 0.80 / 0.20 m². The signal vest of the 2nd class of protection has the ratio of materials: 0.50 / 0.13 m². With respect to certain professions, strict rules are in place to carry this form, regulated by law (Order No. 297 of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of 20.04.06). In accordance with his requirements, the employer is obliged to provide employees with special clothing of the appropriate class for free, issuing a signal waistcoat for a certain Ministry of Health.

In addition to those who are forced to wear alarm clothing in the nature of their activities, it is recommended to wear special waistcoats for children and athletes during the races on the route on bicycles, skiing in the mountains. Clothes bright colors with rescue functions are useful for walks in the sea. The signal vest, whose price is "symbolic", will become an indispensable attribute during hiking trips around the country. It is light in weight and wash, flawless in sock, takes up little space. Sufficient conventionality in size allows you to wear a vest both in summer (for thin clothes) and in winter (for a warm jacket).

It seems that such smallness, however, capable of saving someone's life, should become a constant companion of professional drivers (truckers) who are not obliged by law to wear this type of clothing.

In some European countries, the car should be equipped not only with a spare wheel, fire extinguisher and first-aid kit, but also with overalls. And the drugs and spare parts can be in the trunk, but the signal vest is exclusively in the car because of the fact that the driver can go out exclusively in the driver's seat. It is also recommended to have kits for passengers. By the way, the penalty for the absence of this attribute is impressive and strongly "beats" on a pocket.

In our country, there are no such strictures, although in vain. A waistcoat can save a person's life on the road, protects from the complexities of one who will be forced to take responsibility for negligence both for one's own and those who are on the track without overalls. Take care of yourself and your loved ones!