free work sheets & FAQs 

• Depending on the product or uniform its about 2-3 weeks.  That's after the artwork is signed off. 

• Costs are dependent on three things.  The qty you get, the quality / cost point you chose and how fast you need delivery

Australian safety standards for reflective clothing

This document has been prepared as a basic guide to assist in making an informed OH&S decision regarding the use of personal protective clothing.  For an exhaustive understanding of the employers work place responsibilities please refer to workcover, the National Safety Council of Australia and the AS/NZ 4602:1999 standards.

What is my duty of care?

[ By law, you must provide a safe and healthy workplace for your workers and contractors.
This includes:

• providing and maintaining safe plant (such as machinery and equipment) and safe systems of work (such as controlling entry to high risk areas, controlling work pace and frequency and providing systems to prevent falls from heights.)

• implementing arrangements for the safe use, handling, storage and transport of plant and substances (such as dangerous goods and harmful chemicals or materials.)

• maintaining the safe condition of the workplace (such as ensuring fire exits are not blocked, emergency equipment is serviceable, and general housekeeping.)

• providing workers and contractors with adequate facilities (such as clean toilets, cool and clean drinking water, and hygienic eating areas.)

• making sure workers have adequate information, instruction, training and supervision to work in a safe and healthy manner. Workcover.vic.gov.au ]

How do I provide an appropriate level of safety at my work place?

First you need to conduct a safety audit and do a risk assessment to establish what needs to be done to provide a safe working environment.

This risk assessment will need to be retained on file by you to justify the safety measures employed at your work place.

You would then need to implement the risk assessments recommendations. At one end of the spectrum it might mean installing higher watt light bulbs and at the other end of the spectrum you may need a range of systems, work place process reforms and personal protection equipment.

How do I conduct a risk assessment for my site?

[ The key factors to consider when evaluating risk assessments are:

• they are based on the likelihood of an injury, illness or incident occurring and its consequences,

• they reflect the current state of knowledge about the particular hazard,

• they are conducted by persons competent in the chosen methodology,

• they involve consultation with employees and/or their representatives,

• they are documented and recorded, and

• they comply with current OHS legislation, codes of practice, standards etc.

While your own records of past incidents and discussions with your employees can assist with this part of the process, you may also need to look wider by contacting a trade or industry association, your local regulatory authority, equipment manufacturers or suppliers, or a technically qualified consultant. A lot of valuable information is also available via the internet. More than likely you will need to make a judgment based on a number of these factors and it will help if you record what these were.

The main focus during an audit should be on the outcomes achieved from the risk assessment process, i.e. the hazard controls in place, and their effectiveness. It is also important that the system verifies that hazard controls are monitored to ensure that they remain in place and continue to be effective.

Employers must:

• pay for all personal protective equipment.

• ensure each item of personal protective equipment is appropriate for each particular workplace hazard.

• ensure each item of personal protective equipment is appropriate for each individual worker.

• provide training in the appropriate use of personal protective equipment. provide additional training to supervisors to ensure they understand their role in enforcing the wearing and use of personal protective equipment. ensure all personal protective equipment meets the appropriate standards.

• ensure all personal protective equipment is cleaned and adequately maintained.  Workcover.vic.gov.au 

Alsco can help you to conduct an assessment. This is free of charge and follows the guidelines of the National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA).

When do I have to provide high visibility uniforms?

[ Personal protective equipment should be regarded as a temporary measure or a last resort. It should only be used when other risk control measures do not adequately control exposure or are not practicable.

Personal protective equipment may be necessary:

• where other control measures do not provide adequate control.

• where a risk assessment indicates personal protective equipment is necessary as a temporary measure to reduce employee exposure to an acceptable level until such time ads adequate control is achieved by other means.

• in emergencies where urgent action is required (e.g. a plant failure or chemical spill), or

• during some infrequent maintenance operation where the short duration of the task makes other control measures impractical. Workcover.vic.gov.au ]

What is the Aust standard for high visibility clothing?

There are different levels in design. Your risk assessment will dictate what level to use.  The highest standard or level has been set as AS/NZ 4602:1999.  This standard has been produced as a way to set a top “benchmark” in uniforms and materials used to make them.  Your specific OH&S, workplace needs will be determined by your risk assessment and not by AS/NZ 4602:1999. 

AS/NZ 4602:1999.

• Class D- a garment for outdoor day time use only, comprising fluorescent or other non-retro reflective high visibility material.

Class D fluorescent uniforms by their nature are poly-cotton and for use only in non-flame work environments. Once in use or washed the fluorescent material used to make this uniform may not meet the required standards AS/NZS 1906.4. A cost-effective system for post-sale or use evaluation is not currently available or practicable.

Class D non-retro reflective high visibility material is made from a natural fiber material, (100% cotton) and is for use in flame situations.  See below “The use of personal protective equipment garments in a high flame environment”.

• Class N- a garment for nighttime use only, retro reflective elements on an unspecified background.

• Class D/N- a garment for both day and night, comprising retro reflective elements on a fluorescent or other non-retro reflective high visibility background material.

The use of personal protective equipment garments in a high flame environment

All personal protective equipment needs to be issued in line with your risk assessment for the work undertaken.  As such it may be deemed that the polyester in the uniform is a greater risk of burning than the risk of the wearer being hit due to poor visibility.   Especially work that involves welding, grinding or smelting. 

IE primary risk is burning, and the secondary risk is impact with a moving object.

This risk situation can be managed by using a two-tone orange and navy blue 100% cotton uniform, as well as the appropriate leather aprons.  For smelting you may need to use a probane impregnated or nomex uniform which provides greater levels of flame resistance or retardant properties than 100% cotton.  See the next section- What are the different types of uniforms?

What are the different types of uniforms?

Each different personal protective equipment uniform has a different function and used in the management of different risks. The appropriate style for you to use will be dictated by your risk assessment and practicability (IE cost versus risk assessment ratio).

• Two tone 100% Cotton (low-medium impact risk areas but used in a low flame situation)

This uniform is 100% cotton and is good at helping to manage high heat and flame situations.  The uniform is split into two colour areas.  Orange at the top and navy blue in the lower area.  This two-tone contrast provides a greater level of visual recognition than a single tone uniform.

• Two tone 65% polyester, 35% cotton (used in all impact risk areas during daytime)

A garment for outdoor day time uses only, comprising fluorescent material and a contrasting colour.

• Retro reflective (used in all impact risk areas during nighttime)

A garment for nighttime use only, retro reflective elements on an unspecified background. 

NB this relates to the tape applied onto any coloured uniform to the area requirements in the standards.  Class D/N is a combination a of High visibility 65% polyester, 35% cotton uniform with Retro reflective strips attached to the area requirements in the standards.

• Proban (used in a high flame situations)

This is a single tone 100% cotton uniform impregnated with a resin and is fire retardant.  It will burn but if you remove the heat source from the uniform it will stop burning.

• Nomex (used in a high flame situations)

This is a synthetic suite and is fire resistant.  It will not burn.

Artwork needs to be made up for everything that gets printed.  It’s a digital file in a format that can be scaled and used by a printer. All art needs to be the sum of everything you want printed sized up on that single file.  Logo, text, pictures etc.  Your logo by itself is art but it’s not artwork unless its sized up to what you want as the final print.  There are many file types and tricky rules.  So, if you don’t have these skills it’s best use a graphic designer.  Every printer will tell you that the quality of the artwork is directly related to the final print quality. Garbage in, garbage out!

Embroidery

The most common logo application is embroidery. Thousands of little stitches to create a "picture" of your logo.  This is an art form not a science. The other form is printing.  Either screen printing or digital printing. Both are more a science than art form!  We will discuss with you the best way to get your logo onto the gear to match your image and to match the use of the gear

PAD PRINTING

Pad printing is a silicone pad is used to print your logo into items with either flat or curved faces. It produces great high-quality results in solid colours without gradients or fades. Was invented to print the very fine markings on a watch face

Great for pens, golf balls, stress balls, drink bottles, USBs and highlighters.  The pad “bends” around the product as it prints so you can print on curved pens etc

DIRECT DIGITAL PRINT

Direct Digital Printing is a new process which involves your artwork being printed directly onto the surface of your item using specialist inkjet printers, and the ink immediately adheres to it. This offers the flexibility to print on areas of any size and with any colour, including fades and gradients, producing vibrant results.

This versatility means it’s used on a wide range of products, from notebooks and tech items, to mouse pads.

ROTARY Attachment for DIRECT DIGITAL PRINTER

For wider and more rounder surfaces with a large print area, such as a drink bottle or a travel mug, you require a rotary attachment for your printer. It is like a pad print, however, has the scope for a larger image.

SANDBLASTING

This is used to decorate metals, glass, crystal and wood. The process masks off the area you don’t want to be decorated and using a grit under high pressure blasts away the surface of the material. It is a permanent process and can be left “natural” or have a solid paint colour applied.

LASER ENGRAVING

As the name implies, this involves using a laser beam, instead of inks or tools, to etch a design onto a relatively small area. It looks sophisticated and subtle, which is why it’s often seen on keyrings and premium pens, wine glasses and clocks.

EMBOSSING AND DEBOSSING

Embossing is the use of a hot metal plate to impress an image that raises it against the background, while debossing is using the hot metal plate to recess the image so that your brand is sunken into the surface. Depending on the material Rotary Engraving can be used instead of debossing.

This works best with a softer material such as leather or pleather, which is why it’s commonly used on leather clothing and patches; however, it can be also used on letterheads and books too.

FOIL DEBOSS INFILL

Like the debossing process, gold or silver foil is added to the hot metal plate and pressed into the item’s surface so that both the image and foil is indented into it, making the branding really pop. It’s also used for softer surfaces such as leathers.

SCREEN PRINTING

One of the most commonly used decorative methods, screen printing is where a frame is fitted around the item with a screen and stencil overlay. From there, ink is passed through to brand the surface and then dried by heat.

It’s used for a wide range of typically branded items such as apparel and clothing, ribbon, umbrellas, bags, lanyards and other material items.

SUBLIMATION

Sublimation is a process which involves printing onto sheets of transfer paper and then transferring it to another machine which heat-presses the transfer paper image into the material.

It is suited to different sized areas and artwork with gradient colours, digital images and repeat print patterns, which is why it’s commonly used on clothing, stubby holders, neoprene items and fabrics that can withstand high temperatures.

DIGITAL OR PLASTISOL TRANSFER

Plastisol Transfers are screen printed designs that are printed onto a special heat transfer release paper instead of directly on the softer material. This paper is then applied to the item with heat and pressure.

Mainly used on apparel items such as caps, bags and squishable toys, this method is particularly good at getting around difficult gradients and uneven surfaces.

Marketing is described as turning an idea into a product and “bringing it to market”. That’s a fancy way of saying taking a great idea and making money!  What you do is - Develop the idea, make and cost it. Create a need for it and sell into that need. Then distribute it. The whole business chain is part of marketing.  From the R&D to the warehouse staff pick and packing through to the sales team and the support staff getting things done.  We are all in Marketing.

Most people think marketing is only promoting the product to sell it.  But it’s more than that.

It is designing, costing and getting your brand known, understood and wanted.  Then it’s the fun pointy end of the process. Sales.  Getting your product into the customers hands and their money into yours.

The most common term for this is creating a need and then fulfilling it.  To do that a business needs to build a brand, then use a sales or distribution team to sell and ship the product. It depends where your product sits in the marketplace.  But the awareness, needs and fulfilment process are often supported using TV, Radio, Newspaper or print (above the line marketing).  Then someone needs to sell the product to the customer.  You can do this online or face to face.  These are the traditional forms of marketing.  This has changed and social media is replacing and adding to some of these forms of traditional marketing.

There are now three different sub sections of marketing.  The basic framework (but not limited to is).  Above the line (ABL), through the line (TTL) and below the line (BTL).

ATL is shotgun channels. Mass presentation of your idea.  TV, Radio and print. This is talking to all people but only some will be your target. Today, social media is also playing a role in ATL marketing.

BTL is targeted channels. One on one, or face to face presentation of your idea.  A sales person talking directly to a customer.  Using direct mail, promotional products and uniforms. Can be B2B (business to business) or B2R (business to retail). Sometimes Targeted Social media lives is here too. This is very specific to the target and can cost a bit. Google ad words, SEO and other online paid activities. These are the tools to help the person or business get the sale “over the line” by doing something.

TTL is a combination of the two above forms supporting each other.  For example, forward 20 posts to get a free coffee.  Upload a photo to win points. Gift with purchase. Collect all the toys and post a photo.  This mixed area of marketing can be very creative and just fun.

Getting your logo onto a garment is easy.  There are different ways of doing this. Each has its pros and cons. Most uniforms are off the shelf.  They come from China and are sold in Australia to distributers (like us) who organise the branding of your logo onto the gear. If you want a garment designed especially for you there are two main ways to go:

CTM (cut trim and make) or making the gear from scratch.  Just like our grandmother did on a sewing machine. The minimum order quality for this is usually 1000+.

Having sublimated uniforms made.  Min qtys are small but expensive.

That’s why most uniforms are purchased in the qty you need from an importer and logoed up in Australia.  Either Embroidery, Digital print, Direct to garment or Screen printed. Click into each to see the pros and cons.

Will my logo look good on this? How do you print onto promotional products?

It’s all about contrast.  The eye sees contrast so getting that contrast high is the goal.  A red logo on a red top does not work.  Or a pale green on a pale blue.  But dark on light or light on dark is great. 

Start with the end in mind.  What you want to get in the end or what do you want the product or garment to do for you?  Is it get a data base, an appt, brand recognition? Is it to have your customers remember you or like you?  Is it to thank them or have them feel they are part of your business family?  Are the uniforms for the staff top love you or to an image to meet customer expectation?  Is it safety and driving down your WorkSafe costs?  Or complying to standards or to your safety audit?  Maybe it’s a mix of all of them.  If we figure out what the goal is and what that looks like we can find you the options to fit your budget and make everyone happy.

OK, math time. The marketing buzz words that drive this are “reach” and “view”.   Or, how many people see your stuff, how many times? It’s a cool (but a little nerdy) tool to compare different marketing products against each other. Otherwise you’re comparing apples with oranges. 

A logo written in the sky has great reach but very poor views = poor unit value. A TV campaign has great reach and with repeats = good views but expensive overall. A Radio ad is good value for money if you employ repetition and run the same advertisement over and over in a set time period. But overall expensive. Digital marketing $ is comparable to radio for a year.  But it’s not compared in this article as there are too many variables.  Costs can range for 12K – 360K+PA. So if I can’t afford TV, Digital or radio how can I get my logo seen by the most people for the least amount of $?

Righto, used here are the numbers that your media buyer/seller won’t be telling you.  

All the above figures are interesting and very true. But advertising and marketing in the end is about customer target and retention. No point getting your logo in front of people who are not interested. No point advertising to someone who doesn’t need you.

Promotional products go to people who are already a target or a lead.  They are targeted. So, they in theory are twice as good as the numbers above as all other marketing is shot-gunned out to everyone. Unlike digital, radio and TV (shot-gun marketing or pestering pop ups); promo is all about retention.

Perceived high value of the product = retention.  They don’t bin the gift.

If the pen is a good quality pen with quality branding or the cap has interesting 3D embroidery and an interesting “different” design the customer will keep the cap and pen.

High value perception = retention = use = people seeing your logo = effective use of your marketing money. Or low value perception = low use = few or no people viewing your logo = a waste of your marketing money.  It’s that simple.