5 Reasons You Should Wear Safety Glasses While Doing Yard Work This Fall

As fall arrives, you may be looking over your yard and thinking about all the work you need this season. Leaf clean-up, lawn care, storing outdoor furniture, pressure washing the fence, cleaning the gutters, and so many others before the snow or ice starts. One thing you may not be thinking about, however, is your eye safety while doing this work. Engaging in yard work is an activity where it is common for your eyes to be exposed to harmful debris, dust, and chemicals that can cause severe eye injuries without proper eye protection.

To help you understand the dangers your eyes may face and how to prevent them, here are five reasons you should be protecting your eyes with safety glasses while doing yard work this fall.

Debris Is Everywhere

Leaves, dust, pollen, grass, rocks, sticks, and much more may be kicked up as you rake and mow the lawn. It may be obvious that safety glasses should be worn while mowing or while using a trimmer, but there are a number of other situations when you should be wearing protective eyewear. While leaf blowing, cleaning gutters, trimming branches, or even just packing away summer gear in the attic. Falling dust, yard debris, and cleaning chemicals that come into contact with your eyes can cause scratched corneas, extreme eye pain, and even permanent damage to your vision. It is best to be protected at all times, with safety glasses that help to cover the front, sides and even your brow to help keep things from falling behind them.

Glare and UV light

When working outdoors, you’re typically exposed to harmful UV rays, even on cloudy fall days. A more clear and present danger is glare off of reflective surfaces like water, the road, and snow as it starts to fall. Clear vision is imperative while working with power tools and lawn equipment or even while driving to drop off yard waste. You can injure yourself or others! Look for safety glasses that offer UV protection and/or glare-reducing lenses, such as polarized lenses. Any of our ANSI Z87.1 tested safety frames sold on safevision.com can be fitted with prescription polarized lenses to block 100% UV and cut down on dangerous glare. It’s a great way to keep your eyes protected from both flying debris and harmful light while outdoors.

Potentially Harmful Chemicals

If you are working on your lawn, cleaning the house/garage, painting or staining, you will most likely be using chemicals like gasoline, anti-freeze, cleaning sprays, varnish, etc. While these chemicals are necessary for your tasks, if they come into contact with your eyes, they could cause serious irritation and even severe damage. Wearing safety glasses can reduce the risk of these chemicals meeting your eyes and help prevent injury. If you use chemicals frequently in your yard work, using safety goggles to create a seal around your eyes is the best bet. And if you’re tired of wearing “fit overs,” check out our SafeVision GT20 goggles, which can be fitted with prescription lenses!

Quality of Work

When your eyes are protected, you can get a lot more done with less distraction or fear of injury, making you more efficient as you knock out your fall to-do list. Making sure your eyes are protected gives you the confidence to approach your next project with gusto and will likely improve the quality of your work.

Injuries are Preventable

The Vision Council has stated that 90% of work-related eye injuries are preventable with proper safety eyewear. When you are out doing yard work this fall, be safe, be smart, and don’t become a statistic of preventable eye injuries.

Many people find great joy in taking care of their yards and homes during the fall season, but eye injury can quickly ruin this, potentially permanently. Safety glasses are made for more than industrial work and help to keep you, your eyes and others safe. Remember to wear eye protection while doing any yard or housework to ensure that you are protected from any potential eye injury. To help you stay safe this fall, visit our online shop to find your perfect pair of prescription safety glasses.