Eye Protection: What to Know Before Equipping Yourself

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Unfortunately, eye hazards exist in nearly every sector and industry.

Sustaining an eye injury can have devastating outcomes for workers and their family.? When a worker’s vision is damaged, his quality of life, ability to work, and do simple tasks are greatly affected.

Eye protection is an important matter, one that affects nearly every worker across the country. Preventing eye injuries should therefore be a priority for every safety professional and worker.

Since we get a lot of questions about safety glasses and regulations, we've decided to offer you some answers through this article in partnership with 3M 公司 .

The goal? Help you make?your own decisions?on the kind of safety eyewear you need.

WHY IS SAFETY EYEWEAR IMPORTANT?

• 200 Canadian workers suffer from eye injuries daily. *
• With proper eyewear, it is estimated that?90% of these injuries could be prevented.?*
• Wearing the wrong kind of eye protection can be just as hazardous as not wearing any protection at all.?

* Source: Vision Lost in Canada 2011 Report – The national Coalition for Vision Health

SAFETY GLASSES ARE ESSENTIAL.

Eye injuries usually happen for two main reasons:

• The worker isn’t wearing eye protection.
• The worker is wearing the wrong kind of protection for the job.

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Picking out the right eye protection for every worker—and getting them to wear it properly for the duration of their work shift—is key to significantly reducing ocular injuries.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR?

When you shop for eye protection, look for the CSA certification mark.

Goal:

• Ensures eyewear provides protection to various workplace hazards
• Identifies testing criteria that must be met

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Key tests are conducted and must be passed to meet CSA and to display the CSA logo on the eyewear.

Coverage:?make sure the eyewear covers the right area.

Velocity and impact:?make sure that the safety glasses resist impact hazards. (6.4 mm steel ball is fired at several points at a speed of 46.5 m/s)

Clarity:?make sure the lens is clear enough to allow optimal vision

Ignition resistance:?make sure there’s no ignition or glow after test. (Steel rod (650+/- 20°C) touched to protector (5 sec))

Flame resistance: limited burn if subjected to flame. (burn rate <75 mm/min)

CHANGES TO STANDARD Z94.3

In February 2020, the ninth edition of CSA Z94.3?Eye and Face Protectors?was published. To maintain products as certified to the CSA Group standard, previously certified products were required to undergo recertification to the new 2020 standard.

Major changes to the standard include:

• A change to the minimal frontal coverage of Class 2 protectors (goggles) and the removal of flammability requirements.
• There are no major testing changes to safety eyewear, except all protectors shall now bear the designation “Z94.3” on a portion of the protector to comply with the standard.

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Changes made to clauses and test methods relating to eyewear and goggles resulted in better alignment with other global standards – for example ANSI and European standards.?

TYPES OF PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR – CSA STANDARD Z94.3

Safety Minute ??

Ensuring complete, but also adapted protection for your eyes is a necessity. Indeed, wearing protective eyewear correctly could prevent 90% of eye accidents in the workplace.

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In this video, you will discover the importance of proper eye protection and the solutions offered by 3M.