An Australian man who worked outside while wearing a high-visibility top with a reflective stripe has suffered first degree burns when the reflective tape overheated.

The 40-year-old man presented to the emergency department complaining of a painful red rash across his back, which he noticed when he undressed at home after work. The red mark coincided with the upper high-visibility band on his work shirt.

The authors of a report published in the Medical Journal of Australia say that to their knowledge this is the first reported case of skin burns occurring from overheating of retroreflective tape.