Learning About Basic Manufacturing

Posted on: 6 July 2018

Many jobs can place workers in danger, especially when these jobs are being performed at night. The right safety clothing can make a big difference when it comes to protecting your employees.

Reflective tape used to be the only option available to employers looking for safety clothing, but retroreflective tape has hit the market. This specialized tape provides additional visibility and protection for workers engaged in various tasks during the dusk or nighttime hours.

Reflective vs. Retroreflective

In order to appreciate the advanced safety that retroreflective tape can offer, you need to understand the difference between reflective and retroreflective. Items with reflective properties receive beams of light and then return these beams of light by reflecting them at varying angles.

Items that are retroreflective also receive light, but they reflect this light back to the same source from where it came. This efficient dispersal of light allows retroreflective tape to offer greater visibility by generating a brighter reflection in low-light situations.

Types of Retroreflective Tape

Retroreflection is achieved using a series of miniscule beads lined up next to each other on a piece of tape. If you are looking for retroreflective tape to add to the safety clothing of your employees, you will be able to choose from a couple of different bead styles.

The first is a rounded sphere. The light hits the surface of the sphere and creates a retroreflective glow. The second type of bead to look for is a prismatic bead. Tapes made using these prismatic beads (which resemble triangular prisms) are brighter because there are more surfaces for light to reflect from in a prism as opposed to a sphere.

Applications

Since retroreflective tape is self-adhesive, you have the option of placing it almost anywhere. Most employers opt to adorn high-visibility clothing with retroreflective tape in order to bolster employee safety.

The tape can be added to the shoulder and arms, and strips of tape can be applied to the back of a safety vest or coat to ensure employees remain visible at all times. An experienced retroreflective tape manufacturer will be able to help you evaluate your unique safety needs and determine the proper application for maximizing employee safety.

Safety clothing plays a critical role in the day-to-day lives of employees working in high-risk situations. Make sure that your employees remain visible in all types of lighting by investing in retroreflective tape to add to your safety clothing in the future. For more information, contact a commercial reflective tape supplier in your area.