Thread: Safety Glasses

Originally Posted by smidsy

I teach high school Man Arts and a face shield isn't practical.

"Practical";
Industry in my area has made it compulsoraly that a face shield be worn over safety glasses with any grinding-bench, pedestal, angle, die and wire wheels, et al!

Get over it and wear a face shield over your safety glasses or risk eye injury for both yourself and your students!

Stringy,
We run industry standard for senior (years 10 up) school in the workshop - jeans, long sleeve shirt, steel caps and glasses at all times. If I catch any kid not wearing glasses they get one reminder - the second reminder is theory for a lesson instead of prac. If they get two of those in a week it's a phone call home and a conversation with the principal that is one sided, painful and unlikely to be forgotten any time soon.
We have specialist gear for specific machines and all our lathes, drills and mills have safety shields fitted. Our standard for PPE and safety is the highest I have seen and we have close ties with Tafe and Industry (including Tradesman that come in to run classes) so we know we are running at industy spec or higher.

Between study prac's and work I was in about 8 high schools in WA, there the standard is school uniform (usually shorts and t shirt) and glasses only when on machines.

If I wore a mask it would spend 95% of the time in the up position while I dealt with students.

Faceshields are recommended for grinding. Check out the SWMS on the internet.

It's not only your eyes that matter, it's the rest of your face. We've had a few injuries where the grinding particles have going inside the glasses, so we make sure people are wearing faceshields.

Safety glasses come under the AS1337 number. You can buy them most places like work clobber, bunnys, box gases. You can get them to fit over your normal reading glasses. Recommend that you wear safety glasses under the grinding face mask. Gives better eye protection.

DD

I wear glasses, contact lenses were never practical. I am proud to say that I have never drilled a piece of metal without wearing safety goggles, no matter how big a hurry I think I'm in.
My goggles have soft sides, they come in contact with my face all around my eyes.
Running the drill press. Bit of 3mm iron sheet and a 12mm bit. Everything clamped down, spotlights are on, so away I go. I heard and felt a chunk hit me squarely in the right eye.

No matter how big a hurry I think I'm in, that made me realize just how much I value my eyesight. There are no bragging rights which go with crippling myself.

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

I wear glasses, contact lenses were never practical. I am proud to say that I have never drilled a piece of metal without wearing safety goggles, no matter how big a hurry I think I'm in.
My goggles have soft sides, they come in contact with my face all around my eyes.
Running the drill press. Bit of 3mm iron sheet and a 12mm bit. Everything clamped down, spotlights are on, so away I go. I heard and felt a chunk hit me squarely in the right eye.

No matter how big a hurry I think I'm in, that made me realize just how much I value my eyesight. There are no bragging rights which go with crippling myself.

Interestingly, I accidentally drove over a pair of safety glasses at work, the frames were horribly bent but the lenses were unmarked, unbent and reusable. A reminder of their importance.

Doesn't add much to the facemask part of the question, but thought I'd share

I didn't help much either, just a testimonial of how important safety really is to me.

I did get hit in the forehead with a TC tooth from a running 25cm saw blade, cutting 6mm plexi. Made a hole like the profile of the tooth! Should I ever consider doing a lot of table saw work, I think I'd buy a face shield. I worked out that the rim speed of that blade was at least 180mph/285kph.

I used to be a be a safety glasses person but these days I almost always use face shields. The first time I used my big chainsaw mill in 2007 a 1" brass nut came loose and fell onto the moving chain and ricocheted into my Face Mask making a significant dent in the mask. It felt like someone had hit the shield with a cricket stump.

Glasses are great for the eyes but I prefer a faceshield as the glasses do not protect the cheeks, teeth, throat etc.

My preference is for the "Armadillo" type of shield as it would also, to some degree, protect the throat.

Faceshields

Because I wear glasses (enabes me to see), I find safety goggles are not practical so I use a face mask.
I have several, and generally leave them and the earmuffs hanging on each machine, which means no searching for them when I need to use them.

It's poss. to source safety glasses with a small magnifying section for old pharts who need reading glasses. V. useful.

For high speed work with any risk of spin-offs though I prefer a visor with my reading glasses. If getting close is necessary, I use a higher mag'n pair of cheap look-overs bought from the chemist.

Originally Posted by smidsy

Hei Guys,
Anyone know what the standard is for safety glasses?
What I have been able to find states:
Medium Impact Hazards are commonly fragments or material given off when using grinders and machining metal etc.
High Impact Hazards are commonly fragments or material given off from the use of powered and impact tools.

To me a grinder IS a powered tool, so that standard seems to contradict itself.
The only specific definition I've been able to find is that medium Impact is 45 metres per second and high impact is 120 metres per second.
Makita's basic 100mm angle grinder has a no load speed of 11000 rpm so I guessing sparks would be coming off it faster than 45 metres a second.

Anyone know where I can get high impact safety glasses, I teach high school Man Arts and a face shield isn't practical.

Cheers
Paul

Hi Paul

i know it's several weeks since you asked, but the answer is in your question

high impact is 120m per sec -- Oakey used to advertise that their glasses would stop pellets from a shotgun - your face would be a mess but your eyes would still work

medium impact is 45m per sec -- around 160km/h

as others have said, properly fitted safety glasses only protect your eyes

Hey There,

My personal preference is the Armadillo as well, you can use them with Earmuffs and a Respirator and still see whats happening around you.

HazzaB

Please give me a link to the Armadillo-style mask. Thanks.

By my maths, a 100m grinder turning 11,000rpm has a rim speed of 207 kph.