ANSI Codes & Requirements for Safety Glasses

• The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires employers to seek to protect their employees from workplace hazards. Part of those requirements encompass personal protective equipment or PPE. A typical level of requirement in safety gear or PPE is that the gear meets the standards set by American National Standards Institute or ANSI. ANSI began setting safety standards for protecting the head and eyes of workers in the 1920s. Any eye and face protection must comply with ANSI Z87.1-1989 and must clearly identify the manufacturer.

General Requirements

• Safety spectacles must have safety frames comprised of either plastic or metal and lenses that are impact-resistant. Goggles however are required to be tightly fitted with complete coverage of the eye, eye socket and the facial area around the eyes. They may fit over prescription lenses and must provide protection from dust, debris, impact and splashes. The ANSI requirements for safety glasses for welders include welding shields be made of vulcanized fiber or fiberglass with filtered lenses. These must protect the employee from infrared or radiant light, sparks and debris. Special goggles are required for those who work with lasers, to protect the eyes from painless but dangerous burns.

Welding Specifications

• Welders face intense damage to their eyes without proper protective equipment. The ANSI standards are different depending on the type of welding being performed but require a certain level of shading for individual tasks. For instance, for heavy gas welding, the standards are that the plates be more than 1/2-inch thick and have a minimum protection shade of 6. However, for light-oxygen welding, the requirements are plate thickness of less than one inch and minimum protection shade of 3.

Laser Safety Standards

• For those working with lasers, goggles are required to protect for the specific wavelength of the laser and for optical density for the energy involved in the employee's tasks. Safety goggles must also be labeled with the laser wavelength they protect against, as well as the optical density and visible light transmission.