Amending the Law

FHWA officials excludes firefighters from high-visibility garment rule

By Bob Vaccaro

High-visibility vests continue to be a subject of debate and, for some, derision. Just in case accurate information hasn’t reached your department, I wanted to clarify one thing: The federal law requiring personnel working on a federally funded highway to wear high-visibility apparel was amended to exempt firefighters in certain situations.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) final rule, which went into effect Nov. 24, 2008, states that workers on federally funded roadways are required to wear high-visibility apparel that meets ANSI 107-2004 Class-2 or -3 requirements.

However, first responders already wear NFPA-approved reflective turnout gear. Many in the fire service thought that every firefighter working at an accident scene would have to wear a reflective vest that had to be carried on each piece of apparatus. Some argued that wearing this type of apparel would create a bigger hazard by melting if exposed to heat, snagging on equipment, taking up added compartment space on the apparatus and requiring extra time to don the vest before operating on the scene.

Taking these issues into consideration, the FHWA decided to allow firefighters who are directly exposed to heat and flames or hazardous materials to wear their NFPA-approved turnout gear. Firefighters who aren’t in such situations must wear the high-visibility vest required by the FHWA.

So who does this apply to? I’m guessing this refers to firefighters who are directing traffic (or fire police members, in some states) and all others in ancillary positions. We’ll have to watch this one to see if any other recommendations come down the line.

I definitely think this is a good idea, and it shouldn’t relate only to federally funded highways, but rather, all accident scenes. The more visible we are on the scene, the better the chance we have of staying alive. We’ve come a long way toward improving firefighter and fire apparatus safety in the past several years. Let’s not take a step back by complaining about a small inconvenience that could make us safer.

Bob Vaccaro has more than 30 years of fire-service experience. He is a former chief of the Deer Park (N.Y.) Fire Department. Vaccaro has also worked for the Insurance Services Office, The New York Fire Patrol and several major commercial insurance companies as a senior loss-control consultant.