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Hi-viz hijinks make a flockery of saftey clothing

Fashionable they aren’t, but the wearing of high-visibility clothing is increasingly either recommended by businesses or made mandatory by law, especially for construction workers on every kind of site. But has the use of “hi-vis” clothing, especially the vest, gone too far? In Britain, the wearing of the hi-viz clothing has taken off - literally, according to a BBC television news report that shows a flock of chickens wearing the fluorescent coloured vest.
September 16, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Fashionable they aren’t, but the wearing of high-visibility clothing is increasingly either recommended by businesses or made mandatory by law, especially for construction workers on every kind of site.

But has the use of “hi-vis” clothing, especially the vest, gone too far?

In Britain, the wearing of the hi-viz clothing has taken off - literally, according to a %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal BBC television news report Visit BBC video page false http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/25637631 false false%> that shows a flock of chickens wearing the fluorescent coloured vest.

A more recent example of hi-viz-wearing animals is that of cows, as reported by the UK’s %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal Daily Telegraph newspaper Visit www.telegraph.co.uk website false http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11758512/Cows-should-wear-fluorescent-jackets-and-strings-of-lights-at-night-council-says.html false false%>. One local authority in England has suggested that cows should not only wear the fluorescent jackets but also wear a string of lights at night so the bovines are safer when crossing country roads and lanes.

Admittedly, some cows have been fatally injured in road accidents.

Farmers, though, said that they had spent years trying to persuade the local authority to introduce traffic calming measures to stop motorists driving with excessive speed through the local lanes.

But to outfit one particular herd, the owner estimated it would cost more than US$4,600 to outfit his herd of 175 cows.

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