Hi All I did search for an answer to this but couldn't find exactly the info I need. Basically I just want to check what type of lenses to instruct our fabricator welders to get in their perscription safety glasses. They do all sorts of hotwork including Oxy-acetylene burning, mig/tig welding, plasma cutting, grinding and other steel fabrication associated tasks. They would wear the specs all the time whilst walking around in the fab shop and supplement them with welding screens/face visors etc over the top for specific tasks. Which type (glass, polycarb, impact / other ratings) should I specify? Any other comments welcome. Many thanks Kay

So basically your looking for safety spec standard to protect against general impacts to the eye? Assuming, as you have pointed out, that specific tasks will require specialist protection i.e welding visors / welding goggles then for general purposes I would suggest EN166. As m suggests speak to any reputable opticians for advice on this. You can find a list of standards from the following link > http://www.renalli.com/s...ce-protection.asp?cdir=2

Thanks for the info. I've since found the following: "The current standard for safety spectacles, goggles, and face shields is EN 166. The standard has different sub-classes, listed below, so the description may be complex (e.g. a gas safety goggle conforms to BS EN 166.1.B.3.5.9). i) 1 or 2 describes the optical class ii) 3 protects against liquid droplets/splashes iii) 4 protects against large dust particles iv) 5 protects against gas and fine dust particles v) 9 protects against molten metals and hot solids vi) B protects against medium energy impact vii) F protects against low energy impact With regard to mechanical strength, glass and CR39 (plastic) only meet the general-purpose ’increased robustness’ “S” level of impact protection. Polycarbonate meets the “F” level (low-energy impact.) CR39 shatters when tested to the “F” level." So maybe we would need something like Polycarbonate to BS EN 166.1.B.3.4.5.9? We already use Specsavers for DSE eyetests but some older posts on this forum seemed to suggest that opticians don't necessarily provide the right type of glasses unless you specify... I don't know if that's corect though.