I currently work in the heavy/highway construction industry and am involved with creating and implementing our company's safety protocols and procedures. Like most of you, I am avid shooter and general "gun guy". Recently I started shopping for a new set of night sights for my primary pistol. Based upon the reviews found here and elsewhere as well as my previous experience with other products, I decided upon the Trijicon HD sights. However, like many people, I could not decide whether to purchase sights with an orange or yellow front sight. As I ponder this decision, I was reminded that I encounter this same debate constantly with high visibility warning signs and safety gear for myself and the other employees of the company. OSHA has pretty much discouraged the use of orange vests on highway or job site workers except for certain applications. Fluorescent yellow, with reflective stripes, has become the standard of the industry and is apparent on almost every construction site you pass in the United States. However many of the State DOT's across the country have done their own studies regarding reflectivity. Here is an excerpt from a study that found orange to be superior:
"A number of studies directly dealing with safety garments have also been conducted.
Michon et al.’s (1969) field experiment evaluated the influence of color and size on the
conspicuity of safety clothing on a 12-km track in a diverse background setting, color
combination, and complexity. Sixteen colored cardboard rectangles (white, yellow,
fluorescent yellow, fluorescent orange) were placed at different positions along the track.
Subjects were required to blow their horn when they detected the "safety garment" along the
track. The rectangles were presented to the subjects at distances of either 100 or 200 m.
Overall, Michon et al. (1969) found that fluorescent orange resulted in the lowest reaction
times followed by yellow, fluorescent yellow, and white. They found that an area of about
1,200 cm2
is a sufficient amount of fluorescent material, which is roughly equivalent to a 30-
cm-wide band around the upper part of the body"
While here is another study that found yellow to be superior:
"In 1990, Lesley (1995) conducted a survey dealing with the color of safety vests in
the State of Minnesota under the sponsorship of MNDOT. The results of the survey were as
follows: fluorescent yellow, 5,796; fluorescent green, 2,706; fluorescent orange, 2,23 1;
fluorescent pink, 2,017. Of 119 voters who described themselves as color blind, 115 selected
the fluorescent yellow."
Source: http://www.safetyline.com/Illinois%2...000%2001-1.pdf
I will try to find more studies from the Government and other safety bodies. This one article is all that I have on hand for the time being. I believe the florescent yellow would be slightly easier to pick up on at speed, but that is just my humble opinion. I think if I were involved in a shoot out on a job site where everyone was wearing a yellow vest, I may have some difficulty tracking my sights but that is...pretty unlikely(???). I am curious as to what you members here think of this though.
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Originally Posted by tpd223
