In some examples, a system includes: at least one light capture device; an article of personal protective equipment (PPE) that includes a plurality of retroreflective elements embodied on a surface of the article of PPE in a spatially defined arrangement, each retroreflective element of the plurality of retroreflective elements having at least two different retroreflective properties; a computing device communicatively coupled to the at least one light capture device, wherein the computing device is configured to: receive, from the at least one light capture device, retroreflected light that indicates at least two different retroreflective properties of at least one retroreflective element of the plurality of retroreflective elements; determine, based at least in part on each of the at least two different retroreflective properties, a safety event; and perform at least one operation based at least in part on the safety event.