All About Eye Safety has a great article on the importance of safety goggles, including the dramatic story of a siding installer who saved his vision, and possibly his life with a pair of goggles. Safety goggles provide a cheap and easy way to protect your eyes. Wearing them over the years has saved me from metal shavings, a piece of a hammer, rocks and countless other bit of debris that come from doing construction work. OSHA has developed a set of standards for eye and face protection, that protect workers, as well as employers from a variety of hazards, including flying debris and blinding light.

General requirements

1910.133(a)(1)

The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards from flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation.

1910.133(a)(2)

The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses eye protection that provides side protection when there is a hazard from flying objects. Detachable side protectors (e.g. clip-on or slide-on side shields) meeting the pertinent requirements of this section are acceptable.

1910.133(a)(3)

The employer shall ensure that each affected employee who wears prescription lenses while engaged in operations that involve eye hazards wears eye protection that incorporates the prescription in its design, or wears eye protection that can be worn over the prescription lenses without disturbing the proper position of the prescription lenses or the protective lenses. You can read the entire standard here.

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Tags: eye, Goggles, protection, safety