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The Importance of Protective Eyewear

Often, people don't think about protective eyewear before engaging in high-risk activities, such as mowing the lawn or working on construction projects. Due to this fact, many people experience eye injuries while working and playing. From the playing filed to the workplace to your own backyard, wearing protective eyewear is crucial for preserving ocular health and vision.

Protective Eyewear in the Workplace

Unfortunately, eye injuries in the workplace are common. In fact, as many as 2,000 Americans experience eye injuries while working every day. Some of these injuries result in permanent vision loss. Thankfully, with the correct eye protection, many workplace eye injuries can be prevented, or at least greatly reduced in severity.

Flying objects (such as wood, glass or metal), particles in the air, chemicals and dangerous tool use are the most common causes of workplace eye injury. Jobs that require welding, lasers and fiber optics can also be especially dangerous to the eyes.

To avoid eye injury in the workplace, follow these simple tips:

Be aware of the eye safety dangers at work by completing an eye hazard assessment.
Eliminate hazards before starting work. With machine guarding, specific work screens and engineering management, dangerous situations can be controlled and/or eliminated ahead of time.
Wear proper eye protection. Wearing the proper protection at all times increases eye safety and overall eye health.

Whether you work in a high-risk environment or are just passing through a high-risk area, remember to wear the appropriate protective eyewear.

Protective Eyewear for Children

Children are extremely vulnerable to eye injury. Between team sports and youthful play, kids are constantly at risk. Wherever there is a projectile, there should be safety glasses.

Some children may object to wearing eye safety gear during sports. If the other kids aren't wearing protective eyewear, it may be hard to get your kid to wear goggles or eye shields. Kids may be embarrassed to wear the protective gear, or they may feel that the eyewear hinders their vision or that goggles are just a nuisance.

Consider discussing the use of protective eyewear with other parents (for neighborhood activities) and with coaches (for organized sports). With increased awareness and greater all-around participation, more children will enjoy playing in an eye-friendly environment.

Types of Protective Eyewear

There are many different types of protective eyewear. Choosing the correct eyewear will depend on the activities you will be performing as well the environment in which you will be performing the activities.

Here's a list of some common types of protective eyewear:

Goggles: Goggles protect the eyes from particulates, chemicals and infectious fluids.
Laser Protection Eyewear: Similar in construction to goggles, this protective eyewear shields the eyes from laser light.
Safety Glasses: Safety glasses protect the eye from light, radiation and flying debris.
Sunglasses: Sunglasses provide protection from both visible light and ultraviolet light.
Visors/Face Shields: Visors and face shields protect a large area of the face, including the eyes, from chemicals, biohazards, etc.
Welding Glasses: Welding glasses offer your eyes protection from the bright light produced during welding.

Protective eyewear is always available in prescription (for nearsightedness, far sightedness and astigmatism) and in non-prescription choices. You can even get magnifying safety glasses and reading safety glasses, which will allow you to read while also protecting your eyes. Military glasses, which come in a variety of styles, are also used by many non-military individuals in order to ensure eye safety during high-risk activities.

Safety Materials & Protective Eyewear

The majority of protective eyewear lenses are made with glass, plastic or polycarbonate materials. Here are the basic features of each:

Glass lenses may feel heavy, can contain a prescription, are appropriate for harsh chemical use and aren't easily scratched.
Plastic lenses will feel lighter than glass lenses, can contain a prescription, are more likely to scratch than glass and are appropriate for protection against welding splatter. Plastic lenses are also unlikely to fog.
Polycarbonate lenses are lightweight, stronger and more impact resistant than glass and plastic, are appropriate for protection against welding splatter, aren't likely to fog and are less scratch-resistant than glass.

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