We provide our operatives who go out on site with safety glasses, issued against a risk assessment, which we treat as disposable and replaceable due to the nature of our work.
We issue spectacle wearers over glasses for exactly the same reason.
One of our spectacle wearers has now asked that we provide him with prescription safety glasses free of charge as its classed as PPE, because the over glasses are not comfy to wear, and steam up.
Because we treat this item as disposable and replaceable, it is not 'reasonably practical' to use prescription safety glasses under the same criteria.
I am 100% certain these will become unfit to use in a short space of time, due to the nature of our work.
Any thoughts guys?

You should get him/her the glasses.

The cost isn't a factor here as the overglasses will cost you too, over time. Prescription glasses will last longer and be cared for better.

I could fill a page with reasons to get the prescription glasses but I think better for all concerned that you do a forum search on this first as the answers are already out there.

If, due to the nature of the work you believe the glasses would get damaged anyway then perhaps a full face shield might be of benefit. Protecting the face as well as the glasses.


M

Prescription safety glasses do not have to be that expensive, using a voucher system from Specsavers we pay £36.81 per pair of glasses. As a glasses wearer I would go for a correctly fitting pair of prescription glasses over a poorly fitting pair of over glasses every time

cdt167,
You have stated that , "....because we treat this item as disposable and replaceable, it is not 'reasonably practical' to use prescription safety glasses under the same criteria......."

What is the frequency of disposing & replacing?

From personal experience, employees tend to take better care of their safety spectacles if they are issued better quality and fit models on an individual basis, rather than helping themselves to cheaper models from a storage/ dispenser unit.

Secondly, what is the eye-protection against as there are limitations regarding prescription safety glasses.

If the lenses of prescription safety glasses meet the protection standards, and the nature of the activity is such the replacement frequency is reasonable ( say every two years) then for comfort aspects, prescription safety glasses should be provided. Please note that comfort of the person is a factor that has to be considered whilst assessing the suitability of PPE

Regulation 4(3)(a) to (e)of the PPE at Work Regs lists factors which determine whether PPE is suitable. It includes taking into account the person and in that also comfort.

Back to basics! What you haven't mentioned is what you are protecting the operatives from, how often they would have to wear the specs and for how long; all of these will help to inform the decision as to whether to buy prescription safety specs or not.

I don't think your 'argument' that you consider safety specs to be "..disposable and replaceable.." can be used to justify that buying prescription safety specs isn't reasonably practicable. Can you elaborate on your reasoning?

If the need to use eye protection is infrequent and/or of short duration, then over glasses may be acceptable, whereas if use if frequent and/or of long durations, then he 'argument' for buying prescription safety spec is likely to be more convincing.

I would also agree that it may not be necessary to pay the amount you suggest.

We work on power stations where the need to wear safety glasses for general use is enforced all the time.
We undertake general tasks where task specific eye protection isnt required, fitting nuts and bolts, wrapping materials around items, moving materials, etc but the general area's of work are dirty, hence the fact we see general eye protection provision as disposable and replaceable.
My belief is whilst our operatives would probably take better care of there prescription safety glasses, i couldnt see them lasting more than a few months due to the environment they work in.

Last time I asked Specsavers (less than a year ago) they told me they couldn't supply prescription EN166 1F(T) glasses at any price, so assuming they can supply what the OP requires for £36.81 per pair is rather a leap.

Stated performance is maintained at lower than room temperature. F only requires that the impact resistance be tested at room temperature, so if the glasses are cold they might not have any impact resistance at all.

Our operatives work outdoor night-shifts year round, and I don't consider glasses that only have impact resistance if they are at room temperature to be appropriate. 'T' means they need to provide the specified performance down to -5C (and up to +55C, but that's not relevant to us).

Overglasses and non-prescription glasses are relatively easy to get in 1F(T) (we generally provide Bolle Squale and Cobra respectively, but there are plenty available), but prescription glasses are much more challenging.