Prescription Safety Glasses

Prescription safety glasses grant you the clear vision you need along with the protection necessary for you work, whether you work in a lab, on a construction site, or somewhere else that requires protective glasses. Regular prescription glasses cannot keep your eyes safe from many of the hazards in the workplace or involved with your hobby. While you may try to put safety goggles over your prescription glasses, that isn’t very comfortable. Wolcott Optical provides prescription safety glasses that allow you to keep your eyes safe comfortably so that you can see well while keeping your eyes protected from workplace hazards.

What Are Prescription Safety Glasses?

The vast majority of eye injuries in the workplace are preventable with the use of prescription safety glasses. Prescription glasses have neither the impact resistance necessary nor cover enough surface area around your eyes in order to keep them safe and protected from workplace hazards. Prescription safety glasses can keep your eyes safe so long as they meet requirements established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) which are approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA).

What Are The Requirements For Prescription Safety Glasses?

When shopping for prescription safety glasses, you’ll want to look for the ANSI safety rating that meets your job’s requirements. Prescription safety glasses can have several different certifications, and some jobs require specific ratings. Generally, prescription safety glasses have the ANSI Z87 marking on their frames. This marking indicates their safety rating.

For example:

• Z87 indicates that the glasses can protect you from basic impacts.
• Z87+ and Z87+2 indicate that the glasses can protect you from high impacts.
• The letter D stands for the frames’ ability to protect your eyes from droplets and splashes.
• The letter R stands for the frames’ ability to protect your eyes from infrared light. 

Prescription safety glasses are only considered effective if both the lenses and the frames meet the requirements laid down by OHSA and ANSI and have the ANSI safety marking on them.

What To Consider With Prescription Safety Glasses

You don’t just want to ensure that your prescription safety glasses protect your eyes; you also need to ensure that they fit well. If your prescription safety glasses don’t fit comfortably, you’ll be less likely to wear them, which puts you at heightened risk for injury. 

There are several factors to consider when selecting a pair of prescription safety glasses. For instance, some jobs require certain safety ratings, which you will want to look for. If your job doesn’t do this, then you will want to consider the hazards you face in your workplace or with your hobby. For instance, UV rays can damage your eyes, so if you work outside, you will want want lenses with UV protection. If you work somewhere with risk of impact, look for higher impact protection. If you work somewhere with chemical splashes, you’ll want to look for that letter D on the ANSI marking, to ensure that your safety glasses can protect your eyes from the droplets.

While safety standards are your primary concern with safety glasses, you also want to ensure that you feel confident wearing them and that they fit well. You should be able to see in every direction without vision distortion. The frames should remain in place regardless of how you move. There shouldn’t be pressure points that hurt, and the lenses and frames should have a minimal gap between them and your skin. Some frames come with padding, for optimal comfort.

The better suited your safety glasses are to your face and the more comfortable they are, the more likely you are to wear them. Wolcott Optical provides a range of prescription safety glasses for you to choose from so that you can select the pair that meets your needs. Contact us today to learn more about our prescription safety glasses.