In a lot of different industries, people will wear safety glasses and other eye protection to protect their eyes from eye injuries.
Our eyes are incredibly important, and they are incredibly sensitive too. So, they are more prone to damage than some other parts of our body.
This is why protecting your eyes is so vital, and why you should wear safety eyewear, to avoid workplace eye injuries.
In some industries, your eyes will be more susceptible to damage than others. This includes working in mechanics and construction.
When you work with heavy-duty tools and materials, and also work in dirty and dusty environments, your eyes could easily become damaged without you realizing it.
In this guide, we’ll be taking a look at 5 of the top reasons why you should wear safety glasses. So, if you want to find out more, keep on reading!
What Are Safety Glasses?
First things first, let’s quickly take a look at what safety glasses are. Well, as the name suggests, safety glasses are glasses that are worn to protect your eyes and keep them safe.
These glasses are often known by other names, such as safety goggles, and generally, different names are used for these glasses depending on the industry in which they are used.
Safety glasses are protective because they are designed in a way in which they enclose the eyes. This enclosure prevents anything from outside the goggles from penetrating your eyes.
Essentially, the safety glasses form a barrier between your eyes and the outside world, and they can protect you from all sorts of things.
Safety glasses (or goggles) are commonly used in science labs across the country, and you probably will have worn them in school. In this setting, they are worn to project your eyes from any harsh chemicals that you might be working with.
Likewise, they are commonly used in construction to protect the eyes from dust, debris, and foreign objects. With that in mind, let’s take a look at 5 reasons to wear safety glasses.
There are lots of different benefits of wearing safety glasses. Here are the 5 top reasons why you should wear them.
Reason One – They Protect Your Eyes From Debris and Dust
First up, safety glasses are great because they protect your eyes from dust and debris. These glasses can even protect your eyes from foreign objects, which is very important if you are working in a busy area.
If you work in construction, then there are lots of different scenarios where your eyes may be exposed to flying debris, and lots of dust. Especially if you are working with heavy machinery.
When you use this, it is common for bits of material to fly away from the machine, and this could easily hit somebody else’s face. This can make some people nervous in these environments.
Wearing safety glasses allows you to be more confident and comfortable in these environments.
They allow you to do your work without having to worry about the damage that this dust and debris could do to your eyesight.
So it is easy to see why this is the top reason why you should wear safety glasses.
Reason Two – They Protect Your Eyes From Bright Lights
In addition to protecting your eyes from dust and debris, safety glasses can actually protect your eyes from bright lights too.
This bright light protection not only protects your eyes from bright lights that are emitted by machinery, but bright light from the sun too. So, if you work outside, you should consider wearing safety glasses.
The majority of safety glasses come with UV protection. This is something that you might not know that you need, but something that you can definitely benefit from.
If you work outside a lot, then you probably aren’t aware of the damage that this is doing to your eyes.
However, you might notice that your eyesight is declining over time. This is likely due to UV exposure.
This is another reason to wear safety glasses. Safety glasses are easier to use than traditional sunglasses, and they are often better at protecting your eyes.
So wear safety glasses when you are working outside if you want to protect your eyesight and maintain your 20/20 vision.
Reason Three – They Protect Your Eyes From Chemicals
We mentioned earlier that a lot of people who wear safety glasses are scientists. When you think of safety glasses, it is often scientists that you think of first, rather than construction workers.
Scientists wear safety glasses to protect their eyes from the harsh chemicals that they are working with. It only takes one accidental splash and a strong chemical could destroy your eyesight.
It isn’t only scientists that are exposed to strong chemicals. You could be exposed to materials that contain strong chemicals in construction, and in gardening activities too.
If you are ever working with materials that contain strong chemicals, you should consider wearing safety glasses to protect your eyes.
As we have said, your eyes are one of the most sensitive parts of your body. So, if you want to keep your eyes protected, wear safety glasses when you are working with chemicals.
Reason Four – They Protect Your Eyes Against Illness
Most jobs now involve computers in some capacity. Everybody speaks about screen time, but nobody actually discusses just how much this can damage your eyesight.
So if you are working with computers, it might be a good idea to pop on your safety glasses.
Continual exposure to a computer screen can cause your eyes to become incredibly fatigued. This is why it is always good to take breaks from your computer.
In the long run, continual exposure could even lead to vision loss if you do not take steps to protect your eyes.
You may even develop something known as Computer Vision Syndrome, which causes painful and fatigued eyes.
If you solely work online, then there are safety glasses which you can buy that are a little more stylish.
But, if you simply work in construction, or an environment where you would already be wearing safety glasses, simply keep these on when you use your computer for extra protection.
Reason Five – They Protect Your Eyes Against Accidents
Finally, you should consider wearing safety glasses in any environment where there is a heightened risk, simply to protect yourself against accidents.
There is always a risk of an accident, but in work environments where you have done a risk assessment and pinpointed more risks than normal, we would recommend wearing your safety glasses.
So, if you are visiting a construction site, even if you aren’t actually doing any work, we would recommend wearing your safety glasses.
Likewise, if you are in a room with strong chemicals, you should consider keeping your safety glasses on, just in case an accident occurs.
Safety glasses are there to protect you, so you really should use them in risky environments.
Summary
In short, there are lots of reasons why you should wear safety glasses, and they all primarily lead to the same key reason: safety.
As the name suggests, safety glasses are there to keep you safe and protect your eyes from any damage. So you should wear safety glasses to protect your eyes and maintain your eyesight.