Our eyes have given us the gift of vision. It is imperative that we try to protect them, especially if we are in a work environment where our eyes and face are vulnerable to mishaps. Prevention is always better than cure.
Selecting a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kit requires workers to assess their training and workplace necessities. Workers must be trained on how to wear, maintain, and properly dispose of a PPE kit. As per OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requirements, here are some useful methods to use a PPE kit for eye and face protection.
1. Safety Goggles
Safety goggles have the purpose of protecting the face and eyes from dust particles, flying debris, sharp chips, and fragments. They sit tightly on the wearer’s face and form a protective seal around the eyes. This prevents any hazardous projectiles or metal splashes from getting in the eyes from under or around the goggles.
Safety goggles can also be made of materials of specific optical densities to provide protection against high-energy laser beams. Workers must have PPE kits equipped with such safety goggles for protection against certain wavelengths of laser beams.
2. Safety Spectacles
Safety spectacles are designed like our regular glasses and are reliable when there are chances of flying debris and fragments entering the eyes from the front. They are convenient as they are easy to put on and can be equipped with prescription lenses of the wearer’s eye power. However, the sides of safety spectacles are open. For this reason, side shields are required along with safety spectacles, to provide protection when there is a hazard of flying particles from different directions.
For workers exposed to high temperatures, wearing eye safety spectacles with a heat-reflective face shield protects the eyes and the face. In addition, anti-glare safety spectacles with tinted lenses or visor-type glasses protect the eyes from changing lighting and eye strains from excessive screen time at the workplace.
3. Face Shields
Face Shields are a part of the PPE kit and act as secondary protection in addition to primary protective gear such as safety goggles and safety spectacles. They are meant to protect the face from injury caused by impact, high temperatures, flying debris, chemical splashes, and infectious materials.
4. Filter Lenses
For workers exposed to optical radiation in their workplace, filter lenses must be used as a protective measure for the eyes. The magnitude of radiant energy determines the filter shade required for good eyes and face protection.
5. Welding Helmets
Similar to face shields, welding helmets also act as secondary protection gear. When we use welding helmets along with equipment that provides primary protection, such as safety goggles and safety spectacles, they aid in protecting the face and eyes from impact hazards, chemical splashes, high temperatures, and optical radiation.