How often do you use safety glasses in your daily life? The answer is probably: not often enough.
Most of us know the safety glasses from New Year's Eve, when we are reminded annually to remember to protect our eyes when we go out to watch the beautiful, but potentially dangerous, fireworks. And although we are good at remembering this safety measure, there are many other situations in our daily lives where we forget to protect our eyes.
Maybe that's why you're here: because you want to learn more about the use of safety glasses and when they're needed. Or maybe you realize that safety glasses can be used more than once a year. Others may have landed here because of a task in connection with the job, where extra focus on eye safety is needed.
Whatever brings you here, we're glad you're taking your eye safety seriously. Because we do too!
Therefore, here you will find a clear overview of when to use safety glasses, as well as which types are available.
What do safety glasses protect against?
Most of us have certainly found ourselves in a situation where we should have used safety glasses, but failed to do so for various reasons.
Perhaps we were not aware that the situation required eye protection. Or perhaps we simply underestimated the necessity of eye protection in the given situation. To return to New Year's Eve, many of us have probably relaxed the security on the grounds that it was probably not necessary when we stood in the background and did not fire the rocket ourselves.
But remember that if something goes wrong, the rocket doesn't care if you're behind.
In all situations where you are at risk of damaging your eyes, it is therefore a good idea to use eye protection; and if it is in connection with work, then it is required by law.
The right safety glasses: Which one should you choose?
At the safety giant, we sell several different types of safety glasses. Therefore, familiarize yourself with which glasses you need for your work before purchasing your eye protection. Should the eye protection e.g. just protect your eyes or should the whole face be covered? And are safety glasses only necessary, or do you want a combination shield that can protect you from several risks? Read more about combi protection in the section: Eye protection together with other safety equipment.
Among our selection, you will fortunately find a good selection of several types of eye protection, so you are well covered, regardless of what you are looking for. Overall, eye protection can be divided into three categories - and of course we sell all three types:
Eye protection: What should they protect against?
Below you will get an overview of what safety glasses protect against. Among other things, we emphasize the possibility of prescription glasses for you who are nearsighted.
Prescription glasses
Prescription glasses or safety glasses with strength are of course for you who also want to see what you are doing when you replace your regular glasses with the safety glasses. Because of course you can't drop the safety glasses, even if you already wear glasses.
Full glasses
Full-face glasses (also called googles or chapel glasses) protect both your eyes and the area around your eyes. Depending on the size of the model, full glasses can also be worn over your regular prescription glasses if this is necessary.
Face screen
Contrary to the regular safety glasses and full-face glasses, the face shield, as the name indicates, covers the entire face. Among our selection you will find both disposable and reusable face shields.
Regardless of the type of eye protection you choose, it is important that they meet some basic requirements for protection. They must therefore all be able to protect against:
- Blows of varying strength
- Molten or hot objects
- Drops – e.g. from chemical liquids
- Dust particles and gases
- Scratches
- Radiation
Your eye protection must also not be able to fog up.
Eye protection in everyday situations
There are a multitude of everyday situations where few of us give eye protection a thought, but where it would be an excellent idea. Eg. are certain chemical substances are harmful to our eyes, and some of them we can find in our own homes. Eg. acetic acid or household alcohol.
Both of these cleaning agents are harmful to the eyes, so here ordinary safety glasses could be a good protection when the main cleaning announces its arrival. It is important to emphasize that eye protection is not required when using these cleaners. Alternatively, you can rinse thoroughly if some drops come into contact with your eyes.
Another everyday situation where safety glasses are not only a good measure, but important for your eye safety, is when you work outside in the workshop. Because not all of us are so good at remembering glasses when we just need to fix something quickly. But as most of us forget, so is quickly not the same as safe . If you e.g. have to give a piece of wood a run with the sander, you can easily get dust in your eyes or splinters can get astray. Even short-term activities therefore require safety equipment if the activity can be harmful.
If you are using the sander, remember to use it as well respiratory protection and hearing protection .
Eye protection at work
As with all other safety equipment, safety glasses must be used for work purposes when the work cannot be organized or carried out in a way where your eyes are not exposed to damage.
When it is necessary to use eye protection in connection with work, it is your employer's job to ensure that you have the right equipment. It is also his job to make sure that the safety glasses fit you. On the other hand, it is your job to make sure that the glasses fit properly and to say if this is not the case.
Examples of work where safety glasses may be necessary:
- Welding work
- Laboratory work
- Work on construction sites
Also be aware that safety glasses must not only protect those doing the work, but also those in the vicinity of the work if there is a risk of injury.
Also remember to clean your safety glasses after use.
See our selection of accessories for eye protection
Eye protection along with other safety equipment
In some situations, it will not be sufficient to only use safety glasses. Here it is good to be aware that the overall protection must not impair the safety performance of the individual parts. In relation to safety glasses, you must pay particular attention to the bars on the glasses frame, such as can cause problems when you combine eye protection with hearing protection.
A solution to this can be combi protection, where several safety functions are combined in one set.
See our selection of forest and industrial sets
Do you want to know more about wearing safety glasses? read more on the Norwegian Labor Inspectorate's website .
