Two parts to this - cost of the eyetest and cost of the glasses. I believe the answer is you are not obliged to pay anything at all towards the eyetest in this situation. My reasoning is: 1. Only those employees who already wear glasses will need prescription sunglasses 2. They will already have had an eyetest for their normal glasses, which are not PPE 3. Their optician will therefore be able to provide the sunglasees without an extra eyetest 4. Even if you have a "preferred opticiain" they will almost certainly make up prescription glasses to the employee's current prescription if provided with the correct information. This has certainly been my experience in this situation. The obligation for the glasses themselves is that the company should make free glasses available and it seems reasonable to give a choice of types to allow wearer comfort as you would do with any other PPE and as you presumably do with VDU glasses. I would give a choice of two or three basic styles of sunglasses, which are free and then if people want something more "fashionable" they can pay the additional cost. You need to consider what you will do for someone who wears varifocals as this can be expensive but must be included.

If you are issuing such kit as PPE then the employer pays inclusive of perscription costs where they are needed as if not such kit would not be PPE If there is an accident and it was shown that such kit issued by an employer helped cause an accident because it was not to a perscription standard when such a standard was needed then imagin the employers situation at that time You can now get very good perscription glasses at proper costs - I have never paid >£30.00 for a pair of perscription glasses for myself nor my staff and I can now souce them for substancially less £ than that! NB: This 'who pays' issue is going to be a big thing in the near future re driving as new laws etc come in shortly and many drivers will need perscription glasses just to pass their test/keep up to date

There's no specific sum in law Jon. What you have to ensure is that if you require employees to wear any type of PPE it is available free of charge. Your risk assessment has to determine that it's suitable for the task, gives adequate protection and must take wearer comfort into account. The usual approach with prescription glasses provied either for DSE users or as safety glasses / sunglasses for those who already wear ordinary glasses is to provide a choice of two or three basic frame types - the cost will depend on which optician you use - and then allow employees to pay more if they want something different. If you don't use a specific optician but simply allow your employees to buy glasses from their own optician then it's up to you to set a reasonable sum that will allow everyone to have the whole cost covered if they choose basic frames. You need to make the policy very clear before people start buying designer glasses and claiming their refunds! To be honest the "preferred optician" option with one of the companies that does the voucher system is much easier to administer. Of course if your risk assessment determines that clip-ons are adequate then that's fine. I'd be surprised if it does though!

Issue your spectacle wearers with clip-on shades John? Any particular reason you went with "safety" sunglasses?

Hi Ron, We have given the clip on shades a go but they are a bit flimsy on certain frames. The reason I have referred to them as safety sunglasses is because they are manufactured by “Bolle” and referred to within the catalogue as a safety sunglasses. They are the “wrap around” design which helps prevent debris entering the eyes. I feel the reason the staff choose these particular glasses over the others on trail is due to the design (fairly stylish). I am a firm believer if you have good fitting and looking kit people tend to perform safer and are more willing to wear PPE.

Please also bear in mind the restrictions on tint grade applicable to driving. See (e.g.): http://www.theaa.com/pub...iving-in-sunglasses.html If you persevere with the clip-ons you're going to save yourself an awful lot of bother here.