Best Safety Glasses for Your Job Site

According to a 2009 National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health report, each day nearly 2,000 U.S. workers have job-related eye injuries that require medical treatment. Eye and Face Protection is also one of the top 10 violations of OSHA standards every year. The agency issued more than 1,500 citations with more than $3 million in proposed penalties in 2019.

Safety glasses, compared to standard eyeglasses, have specially designed frames, lenses and side shields that protect the eyes. Tinted safety glasses can also protect against eyestrain or ultraviolet light, which can be necessary for workers who spend long periods outdoors.

Safety goggles form a tight seal around the eyes, offering 360-degree protection. Work sites that have airborne dust, flying debris, chemicals or other splash hazards use goggles to provide greater eye protection than glasses.

When choosing the best safety glasses for your workplace, supervisors and employees should consider the following factors:

• The specific hazards at the job site
• Proper fit & user comfort
• Unrestricted vision & movement
• Durability
• No restriction or interference with any other PPE

Pro Tip: Dirty or smudged safety glasses can impair vision, so avoid products that are difficult to clean.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a non-profit organization that makes certifications and voluntary standards for workplace safety, including safety equipment. ANSI Z87.1 sets the organization’s standards for personal eye and face protection devices to reduce injuries due to impacts, non-ionizing radiation and liquid splash exposures.

ANSI-certified safety glasses will have a blue or black symbol on the packaging or glasses frame. Many ANSI-tested products have additional markings to indicate ratings in these areas:

• Z87: Basic impact rating
• Z87+: High-impact rating
• D3: Splash & droplet protection
• D4: Protection from dust particles
• D5: Protection from fine dust
• W: Welding protection
• U: UV protection
• R: Infrared light protection
• L: Visible light filter

For example, glasses tested for UV protection will be marked from U2 to U6, with U6 offering the highest level of protection from ultraviolet sunlight, especially in outdoor work sites.

Safety glasses often can fog up in humid environments or when you move from a cold to a warm location, such as into a warm building on a cold day. When your safety glasses fog up, they obstruct your vision and increase the chance of a workplace accident. Removing your glasses to wipe off the fog can expose your eyes to the very hazards you’re trying to avoid.

Anti-fog safety glasses reduce the chance of obstructed vision. The lenses have a chemically-coated surface designed to inhibit water vapor from forming condensation. You can also prevent condensation on your protective lenses with anti-fog sprays, wipes or gels, which are designed to reduce fog for a limited time.

Other ways to reduce fogging on safety glasses involve cleaning them with materials that inhibit condensation. Here are three different methods that use common products:

• Wash the glasses with liquid dish soap and water, then wipe clean with a cloth.
• Cover the lenses with shaving cream. Let dry and wipe clean with a cloth.
• Rub enough bar soap on the lenses to leave a layer of film. Let dry and wipe clean with a cloth.

Pro Tip: You should always wear clear-tinted safety glasses in low-light work conditions or job sites with inconsistent light levels, such as frequent changes from indoors to outside.

Plumbing, carpentry and machine operation are all jobs that require eye protection glasses with high impact resistance. When struck by flying objects or hazardous materials on a job site, the best safety eyewear resists impacts and shattering.

Impact-resistant safety glasses do not crack, chip or break during ANSI-approved impact tests. The most popular materials for the lenses of safety glasses are polycarbonate, plastic and glass, which offer different levels of impact resistance.

• Polycarbonate safety glasses are the most impact resistant, offering higher levels of protection against metal, wood splinters and other flying debris. Polycarbonate is lightweight and fog resistant, but is softer than glass and more prone to scratching.
• Plastic, like polycarbonate, is lightweight and less likely to fog, but more prone to scratching and has lower impact resistance.
• Glass is less prone to scratching than the other materials but is heavier, less impact resistant and more likely to fog up.

Scratch-resistant safety glasses are designed with a clear coating, such as diamond-like carbon (DLC) and polycrystalline diamond. They cost more but last longer than less scratch-resistant safety glasses.

Pro Tip: Safety glasses with hard nylon frames tend to be the most durable.

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