Ensuring Workplace Eye Protection: Your Go-To Guide to Buying a Pair of Safety Glasses

The first thing you need to consider when buying safety glasses online is the eye safety hazards you’re likely to encounter at your workplace. Your workplace may pose any one or a combination of two or more of the following hazards.

• Mechanical Risks— This type of hazard is caused by machines and tools that can generate particles that may hit the cornea and cause injury.
• Radiation — From UV radiations to visible light generated during welding and other operations, optical radiation of different types can affect your eyes and cause acute or chronic eye injury.
• Temperature — The risk posed by hot liquids, metal splashes, and intense heat radiation is categorized under this category.
• Chemical — This category includes all foreign materials, such as dust, liquids, gas, chemical splashes, etc.

Once you have identified the workplace-related eye safety hazards, you need to get yourself acquainted to the different types of safety glasses and the degree of eye protection they offer. Generally speaking, eye safety glasses can be categorized into two types — safety glasses and safety goggles.

Depending on the lens material, safety glasses and goggles can protect your eyes from injuries caused by flying objects, particles, optical radiation, and glare due to visible radiation. Materials that are commonly used in the construction of safety eyewear include polycarbonate, acrylic, NXT polyurethane, and optical glass. Don’t forget to consider the pros and cons when choosing a lens made from any of these materials.

Now that you have selected the right lens material for your safety glasses, it’s important to consider the following factors that may influence the level of acceptance and comfort of the wearer.

• Lens Coatings — Lens coatings are used to improve the acceptability and functionality of non-Rx and Rxsafety goggles. For example, if you aim to use your safety goggles in a humid environment, you may want to have an anti-fog coating to prevent condensation and avoid the hassle of frequently removing the glasses to wipe off the fog. Similarly, you may also opt for a hard coating to make the lens scratch-resistant.
• Lens Tints — Lens tints are of great value when safety glasses are to be used in a setting with high optical radiation risk. From simple grey/green coating to reduce the intensity of light to tints that offer protection against UV radiation, there are a number of choices available in lens tints.
• Prescription Safety Glasses — If you or your workers have impaired vision, you may have to use prescription safety glasses and goggles that have been customized to offer optimum visibility and complete protection.
• Comfort and Design — These are two major factors that may impact the acceptance of safety glasses in your workplace. You should opt for a pair of glasses that’s light in weight and has been designed ergonomically to be comfortably worn for extended periods of time.