Loxy loves protecting professional workers, but we also love that our products make it into casual clothing and sportswear, such as those worn by runners around the world.  In addition to supplying the protection high visibility clothing, we also like to dole out tips – here are some tips for runners to stay visible in the dark.

Staying Safe, Staying Visible  when u r running 

No matter where you’re running, the most important thing to remember about running in the dark or in the twilight/early morning hours is that you need stay as visible as possible.  Even if you’re running on a designated sidewalk, you’ll more than likely be crossing lanes of traffic or intersections.  In some cases, sidewalks come to a halt and you’re forced to run along roadsides or highways.  Reflective tape is the key to making sure you stay visible.

Precautions  you need to take when you are running

It’s amazing how many runners, even professional athletes, that you see running along roadsides without clear visibility or high visibility clothing that incorporates sew-on reflective tape or other reflective features.  The reflective material sewn into hems of clothing often isn’t enough, so runners need to wear something that is actually designed for the task at hand.

Aside from donning reflective tape and outfitting garments with additional reflective trim, things like headlamps and flashing beacons on a back strap are terrific hands-free ways to maximize visibility and keep yourself safe.

Run Facing Traffic

When you’re running, it’s important to run toward traffic, not with it.  Not only does this ensure that you can see oncoming vehicles, but a lot of high visibility clothing with reflective tape or trim places the majority of it on the front and sides of the body.  While there is some on the back to offer 360 degree visibility, facing traffic is the best way to stay safe and visible.  It’s important at all times of the day, but even more important in the dark.

Know the Best Route for Running

Before running at night, run the route during the day so it’s visible.  This helps you memorize the route.  If it’s too busy during the day, then take the time to drive the route so you’re at least familiar with it.  The important thing to watch for is where there are breaks or steps in the street that could trip you up.  When you’re running, a tumble near the roadside could send you sprawling into a traffic lane.

When planning your route, be sure to avoid roads without a shoulder as this puts you too close to traffic and makes it too easy for traffic to drive out of its lane.  Even with reflective tape or trim on your running gear there’s just too much risk associated with those areas.

Carry the Right Equipment

If you live in an area with higher crime, you may be tempted to leave your personal belongings at home, but this can often be a mistake.  At the very least, carry your cell phone with you.  If you have it in your hand and your cell is equipped with a light, many smart phones have the option to turn this light on and leave it on to act like a flash light.  Not only will this work in tandem with your retro-reflective gear but you can also use it in the event of an emergency to call for help.

Wear a Hat

Sure a hat can be uncomfortable when you’re running and you get warm, but a hat that is outfitted with reflective trim can increase your visibility.  Many visors and ball caps can be purchased with reflective materials, tape and trim along the top, sides, back and brimline to increase visibility.  When you consider line of sight for reflective tape and how light returns to its source, a hat ensures that vehicles with high headlights are more likely to see you.

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Different Applications of  seam sealing tape

Regardless of how advanced technology gets with coating fabric and textiles to be waterproof, all of that technology is wasted as soon as needles are passed through the seams of a garment or to bring fabrics together with gear and equipment.

Once those holes are created and a needle is threaded, you have a line of puncture holes where vapor and moisture can easily follow the thread through to the interior of the garment. To correct this, manufacturers rely on high quality seam sealing tape that bonds the seams together. With seam seal tape, despite the passing of a needle the seams will always stay dry.

We commonly see seam sealing tape in professional garments for the purposes of keeping workers dry as well as safe (think hazmat suits). There are however a number of other consumer and commercial applications for this kind of sealing tape.

Recreational gear and sport clothing – Casual outdoor wear as well as sporting goods, equipment and outdoor gear utilizes seam sealing tape to keep the wearer dry. Beyond traditional sports garments and shoes however, seam sealing tape also finds its way into gear. This includes things like backpacks and tents to keep water from leaking through so goods stay dry. Just about every outdoor activity requires some piece of clothing, and the clothing used in virtually every outdoor activity uses some kind of sealant tape.

Subterranean gear and clothing – You could probably classify subterranean gear as an outdoor activity or sport clothing but the gear usually have a different kind of exposure. While outdoor gear can get you into some wet situations, caves and caverns are usually a high-humidity environment with a great deal of vapor.

Vapor passes more easily through garments, so to protect the wearer, these garments typically have a more durable, waterproofed fabric along with high quality seam tape.

Hazardous Material Protection – Some professional workers spend their days in protected lab environments, others are on the streets working around hazardous chemicals. Either way, professionals need serious protection from toxic vapors, disease, viruses and bacteria that can transfer through traditional garments.

Sealed hazmat suits use a sealant tape at the seams to help keep the professional worker completely safe from contamination.

Working in Marine Environments – When you work around water you’re bound to get wet. This is doubly true for anyone who works on or around the ocean. With that job, you’re guaranteed to get wet. While exposed parts can’t be protected, rain gear helps eliminate mass exposure to water which can drop body temperature – especially on the frigid waters in the northern seas.
Fabrics for the Military – Go back to previous wars and you’ll find stories of soldiers suffering from disease and skin conditions as a result of extended exposure to moisture. Modern garments are fabricated using seam sealing tape to lock out moisture. This helps keeps soldiers healthy and dry even some of the dampest of conditions.

Different kind of seam sealing tape for different type of use

The most important thing to note is that not every type of seam sealing tape is going to be appropriate for every garment. Manufacturers spend a great deal of time creating just the right tape for different applications and levels of exposure.

Resource: Sealing tape is the number one choice for keeping consumers dry when they wear your garments. Boost protection and ensure a 100% waterproof garment with Loxy brand seam seal tape.

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Reflective Tape  for  Safety

Reflective tape comes in a variety of shapes and sizes as well as applications.  While it’s commonly seen among garments, there are a multitude of uses in the industrial and automotive sector to enhance visibility along roadways and for professionals that work on them.

Another application is in signage along roadways, as well as traffic signs and lights, to ensure that drivers are able to pick those devices and signs out in the darker hours or when visibility is reduced.  Unfortunately, that reflective tape needs to be applied by people and that application can put professional workers directly in harm’s way.

For example, in Shenango Township in Pennsylvania, a road crew worker narrowly missed serious injury in May of this year when his operational vehicle was struck by a passing motorist.  When the vehicle struck his truck, the worker was left hanging from the bucket of the lift truck.

According to local police, the professional worker was applying reflective tape to the traffic lights at an intersection of routes 422 and 388 in the early morning hours when the accident occurred.  A tractor-trailor owned by UPS was the truck in question that struck the lift truck.

Due to the size of the vehicles involved, the force was enough to eject the worker from the lift bucket.  Thankfully the safety harness prevented him from tumbling to the ground and he was held suspended, hanging from the bucket until rescue crews arrived.

While the worker was applying reflective tape to the street light for better visibility of that device, it begs the question whether or not the operating vehicle used by the worker had adequate high-visibility features including hazard lights, cones and reflective tape along the vehicle to signal traffic that the vehicle was stationary and encroaching on traffic.

It’s important to remember that there are so many applications for reflective tape, and that manufacturers in a variety of industries should be utilizing it as much as possible to help improve visibility.  It’s not a complete fail-safe, but should be combined with other safety features such as the harness used by the worker.

According to police, the worker was taken to a local hospital for treatment but reported only minor injuries including neck and back pain.

Why Reflective Tape is Important

There are thousands of workers each year injured along roadsides due to inadequate reflective tape and high visibility clothing.  While the responsibility rests with employers and municipalities to supply the appropriate garments, it’s up to the employees and professional workers to ensure that they are completely protected and as visible as possible where traffic is concerned.

With proper protection and high visibility clothing that incorporates 360 degrees of reflective tape, the number of injured workers will drop dramatically – especially where that reflective tape is combined with a variety of other attention-grabbing safety tools and resources.

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Cycling the green way for transport

Cycling is growing as one of the most acceptable and sensible ways to travel, but we live in a world that seems to be caught between practicality and vanity.  That forces the question of what do you wear?  Some people are comfortable in jeans and a shirt; others are intense and wear as little as possible to minimize weight.  Still others are so focused on safety that they looked like a mummy wrapped in reflective tape.

If you’re the king of cycling, Lance Armstrong, then you’re likely stripped down to spandex and you don’t worry about anything else.  You skip the backpack and the travel goods, reflective tape and other visibility accessories because you want to travel light.

But what if you’re riding for pleasure in the late hours – or riding to work in the early morning hours?  You’ll want something that’s comfortable, casual, but helps with visibility.  Your bike has reflectors but you’ll need some additional reflective tape to keep you visible.

Aside from that, it could start pouring and drench you in a matter of seconds if the rain is hard enough.  That’s why it’s also a good idea to focus on garments that offer some degree of waterproofing, such as high quality outdoor cycling gear with seam sealing tape to keep you dry.

Of course there will always be people who rely on spandex for those long rides, road racing and etc. but there are plenty of people who cycle as part of their daily routine.  Once you get spandex on, it’s not easy to change depending on where you’re headed.  Besides, no one likes being made fun of because they’re decked out in spandex and a helmet covered in reflective tape.

Think cycling isn’t a growing sport?  Think again.  Last year, Americans alone spend over $3 billion USD on bicycles and another 2.6 billion on accessories that includes safety and high visibility clothing.  Take that overseas to the U.K.  and much of Europe where there are long-distance racing circuits and you’ll see equal expenses.

Cycling and clothing

When it comes to clothing and fashion, the industry is really leaning toward the utilitarian rider.  What does that mean?  Well, you know that bike fashion is getting huge when brands like Levi Strauss start putting out biking jeans and jean jackets specifically designed for riding by incorporating reflective tape.

Reflective tape aside, the jeans are cut differently so they’re higher in the back (nix the plumber’s butt) and are made of a more elastic material for added comfort while cycling.

Granted, sport-specific clothing isn’t necessary to enjoy the sport or hobby depending on your outlook.  But, it’s good to know that if you want to start cycling casually, there are manufacturers out there working reflective tape and visibility as well as comfort into more clothing options so you don’t look like a spandex goon while cruising through the city.

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Innovation comes in a variety of forms, and in the United States, a new practice could set an example for the entire world that would speed up the response of fire crews – all thanks to reflective tape.  Not the flame retardant reflective tape use by fire fighters in their gear, but the concept for visibility is the same.

In some local communities in the U.S., 4H groups are using reflective tape at the top of street signs to help fire fighters local fire hydrants.

why Installing the reflective tape on signs near hydrants ?

In Le Mars, Iowa for example, one of the downtown intersections of Plymouth and 10^th was the first to be marked with red reflective tape in April of 2012.  The red is easily visible during the day, and the retro-reflective nature of the tape will ensure that during poor visibility and low-light or night time runs the fire department will be able to easily pick out the location of hydrants.

This is the same kind of technology used in flame retardant reflective tape for professional rescue gear that helps keep firefighters visible.  During intense fires, smoke can make visibility difficult and the fire would normally melt reflective tape.  Flame retardant reflective tape won’t burn, and ensures maximum visibility, which is the ultimate goal for installing the reflective tape on signs near hydrants.

This is key during periods of heavy snow, as hydrants are sometimes buried during storms and by plows.  These markers can make it easy for crews and departments to loca buried hydrants that would otherwise be difficult to find.

The fire-rescue chief of Le Mars was demonstrating during one event for the 4H group how they could get the tape wrapped in order to offer 360 degree visibility.

“Tape them right up below the base of the street signs — just wrap it around and it will overlap,” Schipper told the 4-H group.

The city has more than 600 hydrant locations, he said.

“When it’s snowing and the snow is as tall as you are, it’s hard for us to find a fire hydrant, and sometimes people don’t shovel their fire hydrants out,” Schipper said.

“When we’re coming down the street in a fire truck, if we see a reflection on that pole, we know there’s a fire hydrant there for us to use by your house,” Schipper said.

The 4H group got involved in Le Mars because they contacted the fire department with ideas to make donations.  Another group had already donated blankets and the fire department had been meaning to put up the tape but had no time to do it.  The chief proposed the idea to the group and asked if they would be interested in helping to put the tape up.

Reflective tape to locate hydrants easily

While it might seem like a daunting task in a town with over 600 hydrants, the group was able to mark more than half in a single day.  This is impressive given the task at hand, but shows that other communities and cities throughout the world should take heed and consider the route with reflective tape to help fire fighters do their job better.

Response time and locating hydrants can be a major factor in whether or not a home is saved during a fire, or if people are rescued before they are injured.  An entire home can be engulfed in minutes, so fast location of hydrants is important.  This effort within the States to improve fire rescue response is just one more clear example that reflective tape can be used for a variety of functions that are guaranteed to help keep people safe.

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