The international Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) is seeking participants for a panel considering revisions to the American National Standard for High-Visibility Public Safety Vests.

The voluntary consensus standard, ANSI/ISEA 207-2006 is scheduled to be revised by the end of the year. It specifies the minimum amount of background and retroreflective material and the performance characteristics for such materials used in construction of public safety vests. ANSI/ISEA 207 also includes design and labeling criteria for the finished item.

As part of the development process, standards prepared by ISEA product groups become American National Standards through a consensus process that involves reviewers outside the association. These reviewers submit comments and vote on the approval of the standard. They serve as the final authority if determining whether a standard is submitted to ANSI for acceptance as an American National Standard.

The ISEA is seeking participants in four different interest categories:

• Producer: A manufacturer of the product covered by the standard or components thereof.
• User: An organziation that uses, specifies or purchases the product covered by the standard.
• Government: An agency or department that has regulatory authority or other interest in the product. (NOTE: Government agencies that use the product fall under the User category.)
• General Interest: An organization that has a special interest in the standard due to safety, technical or other requirements or an individual expert with knowledge in the area(s) covered by the standard, but who neither produces nor uses the products.

The ISEA says consensus review of the proposed update is expected to begin in June. Anyo are interested in serving as a consensus panel member for this document, contact Cristine Fargo: cfargo@safetyequipment.org for details.