A Review of High-Visibility Clothing for Accident Prevention and Safety of Workers and Pedestrians

High visibility safety clothing incorporates critical elements, such as fluorescent colour and retro-reflective markings that provide visibility and identification both during the day and at night. The clothing helps to reduce collisions of users with moving motorists on the road and enhances the visibility of workers on construction sites. Aside from these performance properties, there appears to be limited research in this area that can be used to enhance the properties. In response, this systematic review highlights high-visibility clothing for the safety of workers and pedestrians. The Scopus and Google Scholar databases are used to identify the appropriate publications in the field for a critical analysis of their related findings. A close look at several publications has resulted in the selection of thirty (30) article publications from different journals. The findings reveal fluctuations in publication numbers from 1996 to 2022, with more articles (four) published in 2021. Fluorescent colours such as red-orange, orange and yellow are ideal to provide the necessary visibility for daytime use of high-visibility clothing. However, factors such as washing and environmental conditions (exposure to sunlight) could affect the effective performance of high-visibility clothing. The use of advanced technology could improve the identification and detection of workers who wear these garments to enhance safety at the workplace. Lastly, behavioural attitudes and perceptions are identified as influential factors that negatively affect the use of high-visibility safety clothing, especially that of pedestrians. These findings contribute to recommendations for future studies on durability and performance, design innovations, perceptions and behaviour, and technological advancements in high-visibility safety clothing for effective policy direction to improve the safety and protection of users in the workplace or on the road.