Wearing safety glasses helps to keep the eyes safe from injuries at workplaces such as chemical laboratories with all sorts of acids, busy construction sites with heavy machinery, or factories.
At such places, eyes are always unprotected from flying objects and equipment. A minor accident, if not treated with proper protection, may lead to severe and permanent damage.
This blog will explain the importance of wearing glasses for safety, the different styles one may get, and some tips on how to choose a pair for use in a given situation. Knowing this will help you make the right choices to ensure your eyes are well-protected at work.
Why Safety Glasses Are Important
The eyes are among the sensitive parts of your body that may be easily damaged by dust, chemicals, or even UV rays. In such a situation, safety glasses protect your eyes from these dangers. They are considered an important safety measure that helps protect your eyes from accidents and injuries.
Most professions will require this legally. Employers should provide the proper PPE to their employees for their particular job. Not using provided PPE may result in severe injuries and sometimes serious legal consequences, including fines.
Everyday Workplace Elements That Are Harmful to Eyes
1. Flying Debris: While cutting, grinding, or drilling, tiny particles come out in many construction, carpentry, or manufacturing jobs. If proper protection isn’t used, these particles can cause serious eye injuries.
2. Chemical Splashes: These occur generally in laboratory work, cleaning jobs involving chemicals, or even just being around chemicals in plants. At times, even safety eyeglasses with side shields or goggles may protect one from such dangerous substances.
3. Dust Particulates: These refer to workers who are uncovered in dust in the workplace, whether at woodworking or mining activities. They should wear protective eyewear to keep off fine dust particles that may irritate or scratch their eyes.
4. Radiation and UV Exposure: Welders, electricians, and persons engaged outdoors are highly likely to be exposed to dangerous radiation or UV radiation. These invisible rays of light may cause serious injury that can remain in the eyes for one’s entire lifetime. Here, use safety glassware with UV protection.
5. Strong Light and Heat: Workers in welding or glass blowing go through intense light and heat. Certain types of safety glasses, such as welding helmets with dark-coloured lenses, may protect the eyes from such dangers.
Types of Safety Glasses
There are lots of types of safety glasses against particular kinds of dangers:
1. Basic Safety Glasses: These are brought into play in less serious dangers like dust and minor impacts. These are lighter and even more comfortable; hence, they can be worn for very long periods.
2. Wraparound Safety Glasses: These provide better protection than standard ones because of their wrap-around design, which covers both the front and the sides of the eyes for increased protection against flying rubbish and sprays.
3. Goggles: Goggles create a seal around the eye to afford excellent protection against chemical splashes, dust, and particulates. They are helpful in places considered highly dangerous for these risks.
4. Face Shields: These are worn over the face for complete coverage, including all the openings like eyes, nose, and mouth. They are usually placed over and above safety glasses or goggles to protect against certain conditions from flying rubbish, sprays of chemicals, or harsh light.
5. Welding helmets: The helmets’ lenses are darkened to protect the eyes from the intense light and heating that occurs during welding. They are also designed to protect the face from sparks and flying particles.
6. Prescription safety glasses: For people with vision problems, prescription safety glasses offer both protection and clear vision. They combine safety features with lenses that match your prescription, ensuring you see clearly and stay safe at work.
Choosing the Right Safety Glasses
The glasses that one will wear depend a lot on the nature of the workplace dangers. To note, the following will be some helpful tips in selecting the best pair:
1. Identify the Hazard First: Consider what kind of risk might be exposed in the line of work, such as flying dust, chemical splashes, and radiation. This would determine the level of protection needed.
2. Wear Appropriately: Safety glasses should be worn comfortably and not too tight. Poorly fitted glasses could result in discomfort and not adequately protect the wearer. Ensure that frames and pads are available for adjustment so the wearer will be comfortable and secure.
3. Compliance Check: British and European Union regulations require the wearing of safety glasses. These glasses must meet standards like EN166 for personal eye protection and are tested and certified to ensure they provide the necessary level of safety.
4. Durability and Material: Safety glasses must be made of durable material to reduce impact and provide long-term protection. Polycarbonate lenses are most common, as they are very tough on the effects of light.
5. UV Protection: When working outdoors or in places exposed to UV rays, one should consider getting safety glasses that protect them from UV rays. Long-time exposure to UV rays may cause harmful, permanent eye damage.
Taking Proper Care and Maintenance
Taking care of your safety glasses is of utmost importance as they protect you. The following are some ways of taking good care of glasses:
1. Cleaning Regularly: There is a need for cleaning safety glasses from time to time. This is because dust, dirt, and stains can affect a person’s vision, making it difficult to see clearly. They should be cleaned with mild soap and water or special cleaning wipes for safety glasses.
2. Damage Check: Safety glasses should always be checked before use for any damage, such as cracking, scratching, or loose parts. Damaged glasses will not protect effectively and need immediate replacement.
3. Proper Storage: When not in use, the safety glasses must be kept inside their protective case so that they may not be scratched or damaged in any other manner. They should also be kept away from hot and humid places, as this will eventually affect the quality of the lenses and frames.
4. Replace When Necessary: Even the best safety glasses will eventually wear out over time, although proper care can help extend their lifespan. They are suggested for replacement when they get damaged or scratched, the lenses become foggy, or they cannot be cleaned anymore.
Conclusion
Of all the PPE, safety glasses are the most important in protecting the eyes from dangers at work. Wearing the proper type of glasses for the job, in addition to meeting the set standards for them, will enable you to minimise the risk of eye injury and improve overall safety.
These kinds of glasses would continue to protect you, provided good maintenance, proper storage, and timely replacement are carried out. So you should spend money on good-quality safety glasses for your eyes, and your eyes will thank you after some years.
