Eye Safety Equipment In A Lab

In any chemical and biological laboratory, you can not do without personal protective equipment. After all, chemical reactions can not only cause burns but even infect you with pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, every employee of the lab just needs to have eye safety glasses. The main task of goggles is to protect the eyes and preserve the eyesight of the production personnel.

How can work in the lab damage your eyes?

Eye injuries are common industrial injuries. Most often, eye damage is caused by the ingress of foreign bodies into them – dust, solid particles or splashing liquids. Particularly dangerous chemicals are used in many industries and may be present in the form of powder, aerosol, liquid, gas or vapor, or metal fumes.

Substances that produce gas or steam are also present in various industries. For example, chlorine can cause severe eye irritation or, in some cases, conjunctivitis. Other chemicals, such as acids and alkalis, cause burns. Burns caused by alkalis are usually the strongest since alkalis are difficult to wash off.

Irritating and corrosive substances, such as chemical solvents and cleaners, can seriously damage eye tissue. Methanol leads to the crystallization of the cornea, atropine causes dilated pupil, organotin compounds cause visual impairment, and enzymes can eat away the eyes. Corrosive chemicals, including acids and alkalis, can quickly burn through the eyes and cause irreversible damage and blindness.

The loss of vision will permanently make the worker a disabled person, and the employer will have to bear responsibility for a work injury. Among other things, it threatens to reduce productivity and the company’s reputation in the market and increase insurance premiums. Safety Rx will figure out how to protect workers from injury in the lab by choosing protective glasses.

Goggles requirements

All protective eyeglasses must comply with the following standards:

• protective eyewear must not have protrusions, sharp edges, burrs or other defects that cause discomfort or harm during use;
• protective glasses designed to protect against high-speed particles must be resistant to impact with a kinetic energy of 0.84 J (low energy impact) and 5.9 J (medium energy impact);
• safety goggles of increased strength must be resistant to impact with a kinetic energy of at least 0.6 J;
• in closed glasses of indirect ventilation, the penetration through the air vents into the sub-point space of the dust mixture should not exceed 3 mg / min;
• the body of glasses and side shields with light filters are made of a material which transparency is not higher than that of light filters;
• the coefficient of light transmission of the cover glasses and glasses should be at least 85 percent;
• lenses of goggles should not have optical defects (bubbles, scratches, blotches, turbidity, erosion, traces of casting, graininess, indentations, flaking and roughness) and have an optical effect that impairs visual perception;
• the total light transmission in case of fogging of spectacle glasses should not decrease by more than 10 percent in 30 minutes with a difference in ambient temperature and a substage area of ​​15 ± 3° C and relative humidity of 80 ± 3 percent.

Safety glasses for protection against chemical factors also impose additional requirements:

• sealed goggles should protect your eyes from drops of chemical products, as well as gas, vapor and aerosols;
• the manufacturer in the operational documentation for personal eye protection against chemical factors should indicate the optical class, the time of protective action, the types of chemicals from which protection is provided, their concentration and physical state.

Only certified protective glasses can provide an adequate level of protection and safety in the workplace.

Types of safety glasses for work in the lab

Today, the market offers many types of protective glasses (various modifications, colors, even for use by physicians with poor eyesight). Everyone can choose his own individual models.

There are the following types of goggles:

1. Open glasses. They contact with the face part of the outline of the frame. Used to protect the eyes from the front and from the sides against the effects of solid particles. Models with darkened lenses additionally protect the eyes from exposure to bright light, infrared and ultraviolet radiation. The price of such models depends on the material of the lenses and the frame, the availability of regulation of the ends, etc.;
2. Closed direct vent goggles. They contact the face with the entire outline of the frame. They are used to protect the eyes from the front, sides, top, and bottom from exposure to solid particles (models with darkened lenses also protect from infrared and ultraviolet radiation). They are used in engineering, metallurgy, chemical industry, etc.;
3. Closed indirect vent goggles. They fit snugly to the face thanks to a soft obturator and an elastic headband. Such products are used when carrying out drilling, milling, grinding works. Closed goggles prevent exposure to particles which kinetic energy exceeds 0.6 J;
4. Glasses for blasting, rolling and welding. These products are equipped with shaded lenses/monolines, have a ventilation system. Goggles for working with welding equipment prevent exposure of the eyes to UV and IR radiation, sparks and splashes of molten metal, and solid particles.

How to choose protective glasses for the lab?

One should understand that personal protective equipment providing protection in one situation will not necessarily fit in another. Therefore, it is important to know what eye and face protection can be used in a particular situation. Choosing eye safety glasses, one should be guided by the risk assessment of the workplace. It will help determine the level of harmful effects on the eyes and face. You should buy safety glasses from well-known manufacturers and large stores like tso.com. Cooperation with large stores is beneficial and safe. They carefully monitor the quality of goods and sell only original protective equipment.

How to consider the individual features of a lab worker?

When selecting open glasses it is very important that they fit well to the face. This will reduce the likelihood of any objects that traumatize the eye. The facial features of workers are mainly determined by age, gender and nationality but they also have individual characteristics. Taking into account these factors, protective glasses manufacturers seek to develop products suitable for the maximum number of people and conduct research on this issue.

Safety Rx recommends that you pay considerable attention to the individual selection of protective equipment. Keep in mind that open safety glasses are available in several sizes. They can have adjustable tilt angles of the lens and ends.

Manufacturers of personal protective equipment recommend employers to have at least 2-3 different models of safety glasses so that workers can choose the most convenient ones.