Being Seen In The Woods And The Trees

Being Seen In The Woods And The Trees

Being seen can be the difference between life and death for forestry workers.

Waikato University psychology senior lecturer Robert Isler, a specialist in high visibility safety vests, is playing his part under a new contract with the Forest Owners Association.

The contract makes him available to vet any new type of safety vest for the forestry industry to ensure it complies with visibility standards he helped develop.

Waikato researchers have been involved in looking at safety vests for some time. “Yellow vests are generally best in darker conditions, while orange is best in daylight,” he says.

Recently Dr Isler was approached by a manufacturer of safety vests, suggesting that formal guidelines and standards for the forestry industry needed developing.

The Forest Owners Association agreed to this idea and the Dr Isler’s standards were formally adopted by the association about six months ago.

Now the association has entered into the contract for vest testing.

“It’s good to see the research done at Waikato having a very practical application for worker safety,” says Dr Isler.

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