Safety protective eyeglasses

Together with maintaining the basic demand on eyeglasses – correction aid, under certain circumstances, eyeglasses can serve also as protective equipment when working. The priority demand in this case would be sight protection. Safety protective eyeglasses, as personal protective working equipment, are eyeglasses worn when working and are designated for safety and protection of our health. Protective eyeglasses are defined by the law as protective working equipment for protection of eyesil and face.

Safety eyeglasses as personal protective equipment must fulfill general basic demands:

• They have to provide effective protection from existing dangers and they shouldn't increase the risk
• They have to meet current working conditions and working environment
• They have to correspond with ergonomical demands, state of health and after a small adjustment also the personality of the worker
• They have to be health unobjectionable

Construction conditions of safety eyeglasses

The structure and shape of the safety eyeglasses must be adjusted to the dangers, from which they should protect us. The possible risks are chemical, mechanical, thermo-mechanical, then cold and radiation.

The construction of protective goggles must be modified according to the risks, fulfilling the following requirements:

• The eye piece (lens) must be tough enough and break resistant; they have to be tight and mechanically resistant. They have to fulfill the requirements for resistance against hot or molten materials. Filtration characteristics of the eye pieces (lenses) and absorption characteristics of the frame must be adequate according to the dangerous rays.
• Other criteria of the safety eyeglasses are: ergonomical solution, light-weighted, enough ventilation, size of the eye pieces, fog (mist) resistant, easy maintenance and treatment, rounded edges, using safety glass, adequate speed of reaction of the photo-chromatic eye pieces.

What are the safety eyeglasses protecting from?

As individual protective equipment they are specified in the group of working protective equipment for protection of eyes and face, specifically as “Safety eyeglasses against physical effects and liquids”. As an example we can mention mechanical forces, X-ray, laser, ultraviolet, infrared rays, but also light reflections from water surfaces. Shields for protection of face, hoods, welding hoods and eyeglasses also belong to this group.

Protection against radiation from artificial sources

Another characteristic of safety working eyeglasses or shields is protection from radiation. Protection from different types of radiation is regulated in individual norms, related to their purpose, such as filters for welding, filters for UV radiation or filters for protection from radiation from artificial sources. The quality and demands on these filters are stated in separate regulations and they are guaranteed by the manufacturer or by the supplier of these protective equipment.

Protection against sunlight rays

Many occupations are carried out in natural light, the intensity of which can differ according to the environment. The main purpose of antisunlight filters is to protect human eye from intense sunlight rays and to decrease the load on the eye. Norms state the levels of protection, transmission and other related requirements on antisunlight filters used in the industry. The criteria of selection and usage of these filters are set according to the environment, where they should fulfill the purpose of protection. The darkness of the filter is considered according to the average common light intensity in the environment, where the work is carried out. For example, level “dark” is used in middle Europe. Levels “very dark” and “extremely dark” are used in tropical and subtropical regions, for sky observation, in high altitude areas, on snow-covered surfaces, on light water surfaces, on sandy surfaces, in chalk-pits and lime-pits. These filters are not suitable for usage in traffic and when driving a vehicle.

We can say that this type of eyeglasses is getting more and more significant for the wearer. After many years of absence of offering protective working equipment, these eyeglasses are getting into foreground and employers are beginning to pay more attention to this part of protection.