Simply wearing any old pair of safety eyewear isn’t enough to protect your eyes. Sure, it decreases the possibility of an injury, however, if your eyewear fits poorly or incorrectly, your putting yourself at a higher risk for injury.
For too long, safety eyewear has been treated as “one size fits all.” Head and face shapes are so different, how is it possible to find one pair that works for everyone? It’s not. That’s why finding properly fitting eyewear is so crucial to wearability, especially when 90% of recorded injuries are due to poorly fitting eyewear or workers not wearing eyewear at all.
Eyewear that fits well helps reduce injuries and increases compliance, whereas poorly fitting eyewear often leads to workers removing it throughout the workday, making them susceptible to eye injuries.
When trying on new safety eyewear, we recommend using this fit guide and reviewing eyewear descriptions and materials.
- There should be no uncomfortable pressure points on the side of the head or behind the ears.
- The nose piece should be comfortable and contact your nose without pinching.
- You should be able to see in all directions without major obstruction.
- The overall weight of your safety eyewear should be evenly distributed between your ears and your nose so that frames sit comfortably on your face without distracting from tasks.
- Frames should fit close to the face without hitting your eyelashes. The space around the frames and your face should be less than a pencil width. Gaps of less than or equal to 6-8mm are preferred.
- Lenses should cover eyebrow and any soft tissue around it.
- Eyewear should stay in place when you move your head front to back and side to side.
Remember, safety eyewear isn’t one size fits all. If you’re not able to pass the fit test above, try on another pair of safety glasses until you find the perfect fit. You could be saving yourself from a future injury.
This blog post was originally published on HexArmor blog, April 25, 2017.
To read the full article, go to HexArmor.com.