Safety question regarding vision

[Chris is me]

I have a fairly interesting (I hope) predicament regarding my vision, eyeglasses, and safety at my regional in the next few days, and I was wondering if you safety experts could help me out.

Last Friday, I broke my glasses beyond repair at a concert. Since then, my only pair of corrective lenses is a pair of polarized sunglasses. Darkened lenses present a slight safety hazard at FIRST events, and assuming I don't get a new pair of glasses tomorrow morning, may cause trouble for me at Connecticut.

In the worst case scenario, I have three choices:

1. Wear my sunglasses and safety glasses, the darkness causing a safety hazard.
2. Wear no lenses and safety glasses, blurry nearsighted vision causing a safety hazard.
3. Do not enter CT's pit area, adversely affecting my team's performance

Which is the most reasonable and safest option? Does anyone have suggestions for other measures I could take?

[rulesall2]

I would go with the normal safety glasses option. For the future to prevent something like this it may be in your best interest to invest in safety glasses with prescription lenses. FYI: Alex (our driver) doesn't wear his glasses during competition.

[BrendanB]

Talk to the people at the event and explain your story with that you are not trying to be cool, but you need to wear the sun glasses. If the event is light(lighter than WPI) I think you should be fine.

Good luck!

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I have a fairly interesting (I hope) predicament regarding my vision, eyeglasses, and safety at my regional in the next few days, and I was wondering if you safety experts could help me out.

Last Friday, I broke my glasses beyond repair at a concert. Since then, my only pair of corrective lenses is a pair of polarized sunglasses. Darkened lenses present a slight safety hazard at FIRST events, and assuming I don't get a new pair of glasses tomorrow morning, may cause trouble for me at Connecticut.

In the worst case scenario, I have three choices:

1. Wear my sunglasses and safety glasses, the darkness causing a safety hazard.
2. Wear no lenses and safety glasses, blurry nearsighted vision causing a safety hazard.
3. Do not enter CT's pit area, adversely affecting my team's performance

Which is the most reasonable and safest option? Does anyone have suggestions for other measures I could take?

[*]Wear my sunglasses and safety glasses, the darkness...

[Evert Timberg]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

In the worst case scenario, I have three choices:

1. Wear my sunglasses and safety glasses, the darkness causing a safety hazard.
2. Wear no lenses and safety glasses, blurry nearsighted vision causing a safety hazard.
3. Do not enter CT's pit area, adversely affecting my team's performance

Which is the most reasonable and safest option? Does anyone have suggestions for other measures I could take?

I'd say it depends on how bad your eyesight is uncorrected. Mine is around 20/40 in 1 eye and 20/60 in the other. It's a real pain to wear safety glasses that fit over my regular glasses so I usually remove them when and just wear the safety glasses when I'm in the pit. I can still see well enough to read signs but I certainly wouldn't operate any machinery without them.

I think that the dark sunglasses are more hazardous to wear because while everything may be sharp it may be too dark to safely work on a robot.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Evert Timberg

I'd say it depends on how bad your eyesight is uncorrected. Mine is around 20/40 in 1 eye and 20/60 in the other. It's a real pain to wear safety glasses that fit over my regular glasses so I usually remove them when and just wear the safety glasses when I'm in the pit. I can still see well enough to read signs but I certainly wouldn't operate any machinery without them.

I think that the dark sunglasses are more hazardous to wear because while everything may be sharp it may be too dark to safely work on a robot.

My vision is 20 / 300 in one eye and 20 / 400 in another, so it's not very cut and dry. In order to clearly read the text on my laptop right now I have to wear sunglasses. I'm okay with shapes from most distances, but not textures.

[Evert Timberg]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

My vision is 20 / 300 in one eye and 20 / 400 in another, so it's not very cut and dry. In order to clearly read the text on my laptop right now I have to wear sunglasses. I'm okay with shapes from most distances, but not textures.

In that case, I'd say that the sunglasses are the best option. I'm sure the pit officials will understand your predicament. Best of luck.

[EricH]

Sunglasses. If the safety folks have a problem with that, ask them if it's safer to be handling machinery you can barely see due to not being able to see it, or that you can see, though it's darker than normal.

If they don't like that explanation, then you're going to be spending an awful lot of time in the stands...

[Tanner]

Reminds me of our driver for 2-3 years when he suddenly told us that he couldn't see the other side of the field all that time. He now has glasses.

-Tanner

[ISITME_YESITIS]

Use side Shields on your sunglasses

[EricH]

Unless they aren't safety-rated. If they aren't safety-rated, you can't use them as safety glasses.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

My vision is 20 / 300 in one eye and 20 / 400 in another, so it's not very cut and dry. In order to clearly read the text on my laptop right now I have to wear sunglasses. I'm okay with shapes from most distances, but not textures.

I believe 20 / 200 is legally sight impared.

As long as the sunglasses are ANSI safety approved, I'd use them and explain to pit admin that without them you would present more of a safety hazard than with them.

[Chris is me]

Luckily I've managed to purchase a quick pair of normal glasses. Thanks for all the advice anyway!

And yeah, my main problem is that my normal vision is legally blind without correction.

[Wayne Doenges]

Wear the sunglasses. If a Safety person ask you about them say "The future, in FIRST, is so bright I got to wear shades'.
Not much helps is it
Seriously, wear the sunglases with safety glasses over them if they are UL or ANSI approved.
Or walk around with a white stick with a red tip

[Collin Fultz]

Can you make an appointment to get LASIK tomorrow morning? You'll miss some time Thursday, but would be better for the long run.

My friend, Bob Sacamano, had LASIK one morning and won a bull-riding contest that night. You should be fine.