Eye Health, Safety
Why Having Safety Glasses Around The Home Is A Good Idea
Nov
You may only associate safety eyewear with jobs such as construction or lab work, but keeping your eyes protected extends far beyond occupations: A wide variety of household activities call for eye protection, too!
Here are four reasons to have safety glasses around the home.
Home Projects
You never know when you may be inspired to start a new project around the house. Whether it be something creative like woodworking or simply painting a room, keeping your eyes protected is always a good idea.
Projects like these can expose you to debris that could potentially harm your eyes, such as splinters, paint droplets, sawdust, and more.
Having safety glasses around for when you embark on a new project will not only protect your eyes, but improve the overall experience of the project, as you will have peace of mind that you are protected.
If you already wear prescription glasses it’s important to note that a pair of generic side shields cannot simply be clipped on and considered proper protection.
Streetwear or dresswear spectacles are not designed to be impact resistant. Prescription safety glasses are manufactured with deep grooves or bevels to ensure lens retention.
Furthermore, side shields should only be worn with the safety frames they were designed to fit. A properly designed pair of prescription safety glasses will be marked Z87+ or Z87-2+.
Industrial safety standards for safety eyewear are defined by the American National Safety Institute and the specific set of requirements are defined in the ANSI Z87.1 guidelines. Hence the Z87 marking. The “-2” denotes frames that can be fitted with prescription lenses. The “+” indicates high impact resistance.
Household Cleaning
Cleaning around the house, especially when using stronger chemicals such as bleach or ammonia, can potentially cause damage if splashes come into contact with the eyes or areas around them.
Since many cleaning products contain eye-damaging chemicals, keeping safety glasses around is a great way to make sure you are protected while cleaning. Products that spray or splash can easily contact your eyes even if you’re careful, and these are the majority of household cleaning products.
In addition, any type of cleaning that moves particles around like dusting can pose a threat to your eye health. Safety goggles are usually the best option when dealing with chemicals and fine dust.
Goggles should provide a proper seal around your eyes to keep out droplets, dust and fine dust. Fit-over goggles can be purchased at most hardware stores to be worn over your spectacles.
But if you wear prescription glasses and find yourself in frequent need of goggles it may be worth investing in a proper pair of goggles that feature an Rx insert for your particular prescription.
ANSI Z87.1 standards define testing procedures and markings for safety goggle manufacturers which can help guide your search for a quality pair. D3 denotes droplet protection; D4 denotes standard dust protection; D5 denotes fine dust protection.
Our Pentax GT20 goggles passed ANSI testing for all three levels of protection and have been marked accordingly.
They feature a removable Rx insert so you can order them through our website to be fitted with lenses in your prescription.
Home Maintenance
Need to change the HVAC filters? Clean the gutters? Inspect the fireplace? Mow the lawn? You need safety glasses!
Any kind of household maintenance has the potential to expose your eyes to harmful substances and debris.
Whether you come into contact with dust, dirt, a rogue nail, small metal shards or grass clippings, wearing safety glasses could be the difference between a close call and permanent eye damage.
Make sure to wear a pair before starting your next maintenance endeavor and stay protected. Here again, impact resistance and proper coverage for the area surrounding your eyes is paramount.
Regular glasses are not made to withstand high impact from flying objects.
Furthermore, safety glasses feature side shields, or they’re designed to wrap around with deep temples to ensure the sides of your eyes are also protected.
Always be protected!
No matter what you’re up to, whether it’s maintenance, cleaning, creative projects or any number of activities, taking a moment to consider your eye health and safety by keeping quality safety glasses in the home will always be a good idea.
Keep yourself protected and be prepared for anything that comes your way. If you’re having trouble finding a trusted brand of prescription safety eyewear, look no further.
At SafeVision we ensure all our designs meet ANSI Z87.1 standards for frontal & lateral coverage plus high impact resistance. Shop our collection of prescription safety glasses online and order any style with prescription lenses which are manufactured at our state-of-the-art optical laboratory.
