Today’s blog is for the workers who require protective eyewear that accommodate their individual visual acuity.

If you are blessed with 20/20 vision or wear contact lenses, you have unlimited safety eyewear options based on styles, features, colors and the protection levels your work demands.

But for the worker who wears prescription eyeglasses every day, or is recovering from cataract surgery or just getting a little older and having trouble reading a label, the needs for protective eyewear are more specific.  If you wear glasses, you’ll need safety spectacles or goggles designed to fit over your frames (known as over-the-glass, or OTG) and also provide requisite protection from particles, fogging, splashes or light.

But for the worker who wears prescription eyeglasses every day, or is recovering from cataract surgery or just getting a little older and having trouble reading a label, the needs are more specific.  If you wear glasses, you’ll need safety spectacles or goggles designed to fit over your frames (known as over-the-glass, or OTG) and also provide requisite protection from particles, fogging, splashes or light.

Selection for protective eyewear is wide in terms of frame or frameless styles and colors, lens coatings and tints, and protection. Clear anti-scratch polycarbonate lenses that provide 99.9% UV protection are popular, as are rimless frames. More sophisticated styles have adjustable or ratchet temples. The OTG eyewear should be lightweight and fit snugly and comfortably without interfering with the position of your regular eyeglasses. Pay attention to how the nosepiece feels, as you will bear the weight of both pairs.

Now, suppose you never wore glasses previously, but over time you’ve come to depend on a pair of “cheaters” — reading glasses — for reading a book or seeing your smart phone or doing detail work. Or you’ve had a cataract procedure and your short vision is in flux as you heal. If you’ve lived it, you know — not being able to read clearly is incredibly frustrating. On the job it’s potentially dangerous. Again, there are plenty of protective eyewear solutions to keep you seeing sharply.

You can go the over-the-glasses route and wear your regular readers underneath or choose a pair of safety magnifiers. These “super readers” have the same style and comfort options of conventional safety eyewear with the added benefit of a magnified lens. Safety readers are available in diopters from 1.0 (slight magnification) to 3.0 (strong). You could wear them for hours at a time, so be sure they are comfortable and the right strength for your typical viewing distance. Some styles come in a bifocal with top and bottom magnification for looking up and down at close range. Goggle-style readers are also available.

Consult your BlackHawk Sales or Customer Service representative for assistance in finding the right safety eyewear for you. Our most popular brands include 3M, Bouton, Crews, Jackson Safety and Pyramex Safety.

Before purchasing safety eyewear, check that the product meets the ANSI/SEA Z87.1 Standard for Safety Eye and Face Protection.

The writer recently had cataract surgery and now goes glasses-free — except for his trusty cheaters for reading.

Our mission is to provide innovative, value-added services and products that reduce our customer’s total cost. Feel free to contact us for more information.

BlackHawk Industrial

1501 SW Expressway Drive

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74012

[email protected]

Toll Free: 855-610-1001