As a business owner or manager, there are many steps you can take to improve the safety of your workers and prevent workplace injuries. When trying to maximize safety, it is important to take all the necessary precautions. In many industries, work safety glasses are an essential precaution. Work safety glasses are eyewear designed to protect your workers’ faces from various hazards. Supplying your employees with work safety glasses is a great way to take workplace safety to the next level.
Why your employees should be wearing work safety glasses
- Injury prevention — Work safety glasses are a necessary addition to your safety equipment for preventing eye injuries on the job. In industrial settings, hazards such as flying debris and chemicals can pose a significant risk to unprotected eyes. While preventing hazards altogether would be ideal, accidents happen. When they do, protective gear can keep consequences to a minimum. Just as head protection is essential safety equipment for any job, safety glasses act as a barrier, helping to reduce the chances of injuries such as cuts and burns.
- Regulation compliance — Want to avoid workplace safety violations? Complying with industry- and company-specific regulations is crucial. In many fields, there are regulations requiring workers to be equipped with certain kinds of protective gear. This gear may include some form of protective eyewear. To ensure compliance and improve workplace safety, make sure all your employees have the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
- Enhanced productivity — Eye injuries tend to be bad for everyone involved. The injured worker may experience lingering symptoms and require extensive care. The employer may have to bear a portion of health care costs while also losing the productivity of that employee. To ensure that any workplace injuries receive a rapid professional response, it can help to integrate specialized injury management programs in your workplace. It can also be helpful to find new strategies for reducing the number of preventable injuries. With safety glasses, you can reduce the risk of injuries that may result in time off and lost productivity. By keeping downtime to a minimum, improved safety gear can help you optimize your company’s output.
- Debris protection — Work safety glasses are sometimes thought to only be useful in heavy-duty industrial settings. In reality, they can be essential for workers in a wide variety of fields. When getting safety gear for your team, make sure not to underestimate the potential hazards of your industry. Even if your workers aren’t dealing with flying projectiles or toxic chemicals, work safety glasses can protect against many things. One major advantage of protective eyewear is the way it shields against light debris. Airborne dust and dirt particulates are common hazards in many fields from construction to landscaping. When this kind of airborne debris reaches a worker’s face, it can cause irritation and even injury. To reduce the risk of harm, you can provide your workers with quality protective eyewear.
Prescription work safety glasses
Do you have employees who wear prescription eyewear? If so, these workers might have concerns about finding safety glasses that work for them. Due to the standard shape of safety glasses, they typically do not fit well over regular prescription glasses. Fortunately, there are alternatives. Many safety glasses manufacturers offer specialized prescription eyewear. With prescription work safety glasses, your employees can continue working with clear eyesight and added protection.
Prescription protective eyewear comes with many benefits, one of the biggest being individualized customization. Each pair can be tailored to the employee’s visual acuity. Without needing to wear their regular prescription lenses, your employees can also benefit from improved comfort. Properly fitted prescription safety glasses should be comfortable enough to wear for extended periods. This means your employees can work with the glasses on for full shifts without discomfort or distractions.
Another major benefit of prescription protective eyewear is inclusion. With these glasses, you can accommodate the different needs of all your workers. This way, employees with and without visual impairments can comply with safety regulations without compromising their eyesight. If you are planning to get new safety glasses for your workplace, providing specialty prescription glasses is important for ensuring full coverage of your workforce.
What to look for in the best work safety glasses
- Impact resistance — A good pair of safety glasses will be highly resistant to impacts. To ensure worker safety, the glasses should be able to hold up against debris, projectiles and other hazards. While the particular type of safety glasses your company uses may depend on the industry standard, it is typically best to choose glasses made from sturdy materials. Some of the best work safety glasses are produced from polycarbonate materials that can withstand high-velocity impacts. This is especially important in industrial environments.
- Wraparound design — The best safety glasses will cover a large portion of the face. If your workers only use goggles with smaller lenses, they will not get much protection outside of the eyes. For maximum coverage, look for safety glasses with a wraparound design. These glasses protect not only the front of the face, but also the side of the head to an extent. This can be important in the case of a side impact. Wraparound glasses also provide superior protection against airborne particles.
- User comfort — Prioritize glasses with good comfort features. Uncomfortable safety glasses can cause facial irritation, resulting in more frequent breaks and less productivity from your workers. To minimize adjustments needed and maximize worker productivity and morale, seek out comfortable glasses. Comfort-centered features include adjustable nose pads, cushioned temples and lightweight frames. Comfortable glasses can be especially vital for situations where prolonged wear is common.
- UV protection — Is your business based in an outdoor environment? If your workers are in a field such as construction that involves a lot of outdoor work, you may want to consider safety glasses that offer UV protection. UV protection is also important for other high-exposure environments. With UV protection, your workers can keep their eyes safe from harmful rays as well as debris.
Promote a strong safety culture
Helping your workers understand the benefits of safe eyewear can keep them motivated to wear safety glasses. You can also institute policies around safety glasses and put up informational posters around the workplace. These steps can help foster a culture of safety in your workplace. Having a strong safety culture means the people in your company prioritize safety and work in a transparent, responsible manner.
A strong safety culture benefits everyone. It is important for your workers to understand the ways improved safety directly benefits them. When you introduce new safety gear such as safety glasses, it can help to explain the ways this gear works to keep each worker safe and healthy. With safety glasses, you might focus on injury prevention and reduced eye strain. A worker who knows how each piece of safety equipment can help them is more likely to use that equipment responsibly.
Work-Fit can help you create a proactive safety culture
Ready to improve your workplace safety? Work-Fit can help. Our multifaceted approach makes us great partners with your safety team! We help promote proper PPE and specialize in MSK injury prevention and management. With our guidance, you can take your company’s safety strategies to the next level.
Contact our team today for more information about our services or to learn how we can help keep your employees safe from harm and injury.
