Eye Protection: Safety Glasses

If your job involves hazards from dust, flying objects or particles that may strike you from in front, you should be using some form of safety glasses. If you normally use a face shield in operations such as grinding, you also need to wear safety glasses under your face shield. The good news about safety glasses is that you can now get them in attractive styles that are at home in both the workroom and the boardroom.

The OSU Physical Plant Supply Department now stocks several different varieties of safety glasses:

• Large and small sizes with smoked lenses (not to be used for welding).
• A "one-size-fits-all" clear lens brand with adjustable temples (looks more stylish than the old brand and should provide better ventilation).
• An "over-the-lens" brand which is designed to go over prescription lenses (stylish and not too heavy) with adjustable temples.

Supply also carries glasses cases, glasses cords for hanging them around your neck, lens wipes, and cleaning solutions.

What Makes Them "Safety" Glasses?

Resistance to impact is the main difference between safety glasses and regular glasses, which often look just like them. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which sets standards for safety glasses, requires them to withstand the impact of a quarter inch steel ball traveling 150 feet per second. You can't depend on your prescription glasses for this kind of protection. Frames stamped with the imprint "Z87" meet stringent standards for strength and heat resistance.

Kinds of Safety Glasses

It is important to remember that standard safety glasses protect against impact from the front only. For this reason the safety glasses provided in Supply have side shields to provide limited protection from the sides for tasks such as sanding, buffing, and drill- press work. When hazards come from above and below as well as the side, as in lathe work or other high speed cutting and shaping operations, goggles can be used instead of glasses or a face shield can be worn over the safety glasses.

Care and Use

Your safety glasses are designed to protect you from accidental injury. They will not withstand repeated impact or abuse, however. Inspect them regularly for scratches, cracks or other wear and replace them if the are scratched, bent or uncomfortable. Scratches not only interfere with your ability to see what you're doing - a hazard in itself; they can also weaken the structure of the lens and its resistance to impact. Taking care of your glasses and, above all, using them, will help you "look" your best on the job.

©Parlay International

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