TESTING THE RELATIVE CONSPICUOUSNESS OF SAFETY GARMENTS FOR NEW-ZEALAND FORESTRY WORKERS

The relative conspicuities of six test garments (fluorescent orange, g reen/red, high-contrast, fluorescent lime-yellow, white, black) were a ssessed to guide the selection process of a standard upper body safety garment to be used within the New Zealand logging industry, Six male and four female participants, aged between 18 and 26 years, volunteere d to perform 10 trials each on a demanding, central (tracking) task, w hile peripherally searching colour slides for test garments displayed on each of eight positions, against a pine forest background typically found in the New Zealand forestry, During each trial, transparency lu minance was first gradually increased from darkness to daylight and th en decreased to darkness again within 180 s. A head mounted ASL eye tr acking system (4000SU) recorded the eye line of gaze for each particip ant, enabling a rank order of detection to be obtained for the tested garments in each trial, The fluorescent lime-yellow, fluorescent orang e and white test garments were detected earlier than any other test ga rments across all trials, and the fluorescent lime-yellow test garment was detected first with a higher frequency than the white test garmen t, It was concluded that while white may be the most visible colour in near darkness conditions, as it provides highest contrast, fluorescen t lime-yellow stands out better in twilight and daylight conditions ag ainst the pine forest background, The results of this study led to the promotion of fluorescent lime-yellow as the standard safety colour us ed in upper body garments within the New Zealand forest industry. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.