Eyeglass Side Shields

My co workers told me of an incident that happened my first week working at Xerox years ago. An employee lost an eye while wearing safety glasses. He was reaching for a screw under the table and leaned down to get it. He had a screwdriver in his other hand and braced himself with the hand holding the screwdriver which was sticking out towards him. When he leaned down under the desk the screwdriver went over the safety glasses and punctured his eye.

Where does it say we need side shields?

S01. Safety glasses: required. All event attendees must wear ANSI-approved, UL Listed, or CSA rated non-shaded safety glasses while in the ARENA. Lightly tinted lenses are permitted provided eyes are clearly visible to others, but reflective lenses are prohibited.

I find it hard for them to tell me that a piece of polycarb is too flimsy to meet a rule that doesn’t exist. I have ANSI rated safety glasses with side shields for work so for me in doesn’t matter. But I just wanted to point out that you can have ANSI rated safety glasses without side shields and OSHA permits this in certain jobs.

Also the people that generally get put on the safety glasses enforcement task usually don’t know what ANSI means so having an argument with them is pointless.

Ed’s example proves zero risk doesn’t exist.

In response to Mike’s comment about thickness: The visor on my motorcycle helmet is thinner the any prescription lens. I regularly have things impact it at 70+ MPH. Thickness of the ansi Z-87 non-prescription safety glasses lens under my desk is 0.050" The minimum thickness of my non-ansi hi index poly lens is over .060 at the minimum. (Yours might be different)

I am not advocating braking the rules. Eyesight is a precious commodity and well worth protecting.

I’m sure I’m late to this post, however, last year, our team (FRC 180 SPAM) had UL come up to our pits to let us know that since we are all about Safety, a mentor’s side shields were not up to par and that it isn’t allowed. Even tho his prescription glasses were ANSI approved and he paid extra for his lenses to be upgraded to them, because he had those flimsy plastic side sheets, he had to wear a pair of safety glasses over them.

I know that UL is getting stricter about these, and we don’t allow our students to wear them unless they can show us the proof that they are from the approved list of FIRST’s rules on safety glasses/side shield. I just found it funny that I would find this thread a year later.

Either way, it’s one of those things that UL has been on the lookout. ::safety::

After I got excited with the idea of just wearing my safety rated Rx glasses, on eof our mentors sent me this…

Per section 7.1 on page 15 of the 2017 FRC Safety Maunal:

The following safety considerations apply at all FIRST Robotics Competition Event(s): To gain entrance to the Pit, every person will have to wear a pair of safety glasses or safety rated prescription glasses with side shields. Don’t leave all safety glasses or side shields in the Pit. Be sure to bring a few pairs with you, so someone from your team can enter the Pit and get the safety glasses for all other members

Check with your glasses provider, they can often make Safety Glasses for you for a minor additional charge.

I get mine at Specs-for-Less in Delaware. They are wireframes with bifocals (since I have eyes as old as FrankJ’s safety glasses). $179 for two pair with two pair of side shields.

I’ve never had anyone dispute them as being OK over the last decade. They do carry the Z87 mark, but nobody has ever asked to look at them. Even in the plant sites that I visited.

+2

For team members with smaller type prescription glasses, this is our new standard:

Fits over the top of your entire glasses front and sides.

^THIS.

Last year at one of my district events, when a team was building their pit, their top crosspiece swung out and struck me directly on my glasses. The blow would have broken my prescription glasses had I not been wearing safety glasses over my prescription ones.

As it was I ended up with a fairly nasty cut on the bridge of my nose, but no further damage.

Please, everyone take Z87 very seriously. If I hadn’t, I might be missing an eye today.

Here are the side shields we’ve gravitated to. I don’t wear eyeglasses and can’t comment first hand, but our glasses wearers like them.

~$3.50 a pair, and we just toss a few more onto our next McMaster order every time we run low. More substantial than the slide on ones mentioned earlier, but are actually a bit flexible. Z87+ rated.

I personally don’t have a pair of Z87 rated prescription glasses, but a member of my team does. He also has Z87 rated side shields that aren’t the flimsy kind. But he has all but given up on using them at a FIRST event. His reason being that it’s just a huge hassle. His glasses/side shields combo is completely in agreement with FIRST’s safety rules, but he has to prove it to people all the time. He constantly gets stopped by people asking him if his glasses are Z87 rated. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing, people just want to make sure he’s safe. He just found it easier to wear over-glasses safety glasses and not have to answer as many questions. Obviously some people don’t like them, but he found it to be an easier option.

Playing devil’s advocate here: Why do you think the blow would have broken your prescription glasses? Was the safety glasses broken or damaged?

No the safety glasses survived.

When the crossbeam hit I saw stars (I ended up being the 1st person to visit the first aid room at that event) and later asked my teammates to ‘keep an eye on me’ … just in case.

My prescription glasses are glass, not safety glass and are not Z87 rated. Anyone thinking that side-shields make glasses Z87 rated are asking for trouble.

As I said, I’m pretty sure my glasses would have broken from the force of the blow and sent pieces at my eye. Whether I would have lost an eye … I don’t know, but I have no intention of ever finding out.

Please, all, wear Z87 rated safety glasses, not just side-shields.

Thanks for the answer. Please note that this is a just conversation. I am not advocating the prescription glasses are the equivalent to ANSI rated glasses. But. I once collided with a B pillar hard enough to knock me out and give me a 1-1/2 inch laceration across my eyebrow from my glasses. My glasses where none the worse. I forget whether or not they were glass or plastic. That was about the time that plastic became common. These days, if you are under 18, it takes effort to get anything but high impact polycarbonate lens.