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For Your Eye's Only - Safety Equiment in the Workplace

Many people think nothing bad will happen to them. They are experts--very experienced, right? WRONG. Even well trained workers should wear PPE, personal protection equipment. In 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed to make the workplace safer. The act is enforced by OSHA. OSHA also comes up with new regulations that all businesses must adhere to. Some examples of protective equipment required by OSHA for some jobs are hardhats, safety eyeglasses, goggles, steel-toed boots, harnesses, gloves, etc. The required equipment changes based upon the industry.

If you have a risky job, you don't have a choice of whether or not to wear safety gear. OHSA will require PPA in any job that could negatively effect your health. The employer must study any potential threats that could occur and address them by providing safety gear for protection and by educating the employees about the threat. They also must show the employees the proper way to use the PPE.

Safety eyewear must be worn if the worker is in the vicinity of flying debris in the form of things like sparks, dust, chemical splashes, wood splinters, etc. Safety glasses used to be crude and awkward, but they have developed into advanced gear, with safety bifocals, trifocals, and progressive focus lenses available. The lenses can be made of plastic or polycarbonate. Polycarbonate lenses are very strong. They are lighter, but stronger than plastic.

The sacrifice for this strength is that they aren't quite as clear to look through. Another material that the lenses can now be made out of is called Trivex. It has the best of both worlds in that it is the most impact resistant material, but it also does not sacrifice optical quality at all. Understandably, this material can be quite expensive though. Polycarbonate is the most popular because of the expense. The lenses can be tinted for various purposes. You will see a 'Z-87' stamp on the glasses that meet the OSHA standards.

OSHA safety glasses or sunglasses look like regular glasses, but they are built to withstand quite a bit of abuse. You must protect yourself, so please adhere to the laws and wear your safety equipment. You probably won't have time to protect yourself from something flying towards your eye, so glasses can save your vision. Similarly, a hardhat can protect you from objects falling on you from above that you wouldn't be able to see.

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