Safety Goggles Information
Many of the safety regulations that apply to safety glasses also apply to safety goggles. For certain work environments, safety goggles are necessary for the amount and size of particles in the air or, in the case of welding, for the amount of light. Welding goggles, however, are tinted, unlike standard safety goggles for wood working or chemical handling. Regardless of what the safety goggles are used for, from lab or miners safety to simple eye care safety in a workshop or a construction site, all safety goggles need to go through the same types of tests as those required for safety glasses.
The ANSI Z87.1-2003 is a voluntary standard for manufacturers and users of safety goggles, unless mandated by OSHA. Most manufacturers of safety goggles comply with recent Z87 standards, although OSHA requires eye protectors, including all types of safety goggles, follow the 1989 version of Z87. But, in order to be considered higher impact safety protection, goggle lenses need to pass the same tests as those for safety glasses, except the high impact velocity test is changed to reflect the type of impact protection safety goggles should have. While lenses for safety glasses are shot with a steel ball going at 150 feet per second, lenses for safety goggles are shot with the same ball going at a speed of 250 feet per second in the same test. The goggle frames also need to pass the same types of tests that safety glasses need to pass. Like glasses, safety goggles need to be labeled as basic or high impact and whether or not they’re prescription safety goggles.
Safety goggles are recommended for any type of high impact work needing more protection than safety glasses, but safety goggles are typically used for laboratory safety, chemical safety, woodworking, and welding. While chemical safety glasses and goggles, or safety laboratory goggles, are used to protect the user’s eyes from splashes, safety goggles are used for work areas with larger flying particles, or for higher impact work areas. Higher impact work areas are those with greater dust production or chemical splashes or greater light and heat production. Safety goggles, such as safety lab goggles or miners safety goggles, used to protect the user against chemical splashes or large amounts of dust need to have indirect venting to prevent lens fogging. Work areas, such as a workshop, with larger flying particles need direct vented safety goggles for both eye care and to prevent fogging.
Safety goggles for welding are similar to safety laboratory or process workers safety goggles, except they’re tinted safety goggles. Green tinted safety goggles are one type of welding safety goggles, although some with darker tints may be needed for arc welding. Welders safety dress goggles need to be labeled with a number for tinting, with the tinted safety goggles for the lightest work labeled 1.5 to 3 and tinted welding goggles labeled 10 to 14 for arc welding. In addition, as many welders use a face shield, a pair of safety goggles should always be worn with a face shield, as a face shield does not have as effective eye protection as a pair of safety goggles.
One option for a standard pair of lab safety goggles can be a side shield for additional protection. Side shield coverage can increase rearward protection by 10mm, but this isn’t always required. OSHA, however, does require lateral eye protection in areas with flying particles and a side shield could give additional lateral protection. The lenses themselves don’t have any thickness requirements for high impact work, although glass or basic safety goggles lenses, including prescription safety goggles, need to be at least 3mm thick. For a compromise of prescription safety goggles and safety glasses, some manufacturers make a safety glasses-goggles hybrid to give workers better peripheral vision than standard safety goggles and better protection than safety glasses.
