Can Prescription Glasses Be Worn In Place Of Protective Glasses?

In the US, hundreds of thousands of prescription glasses are bought annually. You will undoubtedly discover a pair that meets all of your demands, whether you are looking for the initial pair or your next set. For instance, you can get everything from chic, elegant prescription specs to prescription eyewear that are ideal for demanding and challenging situations at an online retailer like SEG.

But as you peruse our selection—or the selection of any other merchant of eyewear—you might encounter a query that has an impact on your professional life. You could specifically be wondering if prescription glasses qualify as safety glasses. This is especially important if your line of work necessitates the use of safety eyewear.

If you engage in a setting where dust or debris is flying, your employer might provide you with safety glasses, but you might prefer a different set. In addition, you might wish to choose a pair of safety glasses that meet your professional needs and are fashionable and useful for the job.

Let's clear up some of the ambiguity surrounding this query in this post. Having these details at your fingertips will help you find the ideal prescription eyewear that satisfies all safety regulations at work. Attention! There are prescription eyeglasses that qualify as safety glasses.

Safety Glasses vs Prescription Glasses

It's crucial to first go over some of the main distinctions between safety and prescription glasses. Prescription glasses and safety glasses are often not the same thing. There are various explanations for this.

First, the materials used to make safety glasses and prescription glasses are frequently different. Different metals and plastic materials (such as Zyl and Monel) can be used to make prescription glasses.

On the other hand, safety glasses are specifically made to provide greater eye protection, therefore their material is more durable. Lenses work in the same way. Prescription glasses lenses are composed of materials that improve vision, but they are not as strong and safe as safety eyewear lenses.

For example, polycarbonate is the most widely used lens material for protective glasses. Compared to regular glass lenses, polycarbonate lenses are more impact-resistant and lighter. The materials used in safety glasses' frames and lenses are evaluated to make sure they can tolerate high levels of stress, as we will cover in more detail below.

Safety glasses typically come with extra features that can aid in wearer protection besides the materials used for the frame and lenses. For example, if you look in the SEG store, you'll notice that a lot of eye protection like Armourx safety glasses come with optional side shields.

Wearers can be further shielded from flying debris and dust by using these side shields. The purpose of safety glasses is to ensure one's safety. On the other hand, prescription glasses are designed to improve your vision. They frequently break easily under severe strain and are not as strong as safety glasses.

A Few Exceptions Regarding Prescription Glasses

Even though many of these differences are obvious, prescription eyeglasses may qualify as safety glasses in some situations. Whether or not a set of prescription eyewear has been specifically made to be a safety glass is what matters most. Safety glasses must ultimately meet a greater threshold of impact resistance than a typical pair of prescription eyewear.

The best-renowned standards in eyewear undoubtedly originate with the American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”). Overseeing the setting up of voluntary consensus norms for goods and services in the US is ANSI, a private, nonprofit organization.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA"), which oversees safety at work in the United States, depends on ANSI standards to assess if a particular type of eyewear adequately protects workers while they are on the job because ANSI is so highly respected.

Therefore, checking to see if prescription glasses satisfy ANSI criteria is one of the most effective ways to find out if they qualify as safety glasses. In the eyewear industry, there are numerous ANSI standards. But most of the time, you'll encounter safety glasses that adhere to ANSI regulations like Z87 safety glasses.

Safety Glasses Test Requirements

The eyewear needs to pass several tests to satisfy any of these requirements. One such test is the "ball drop test," which entails dropping a steel ball, about 2.4 ounces in weight, from an elevation of 50 inches. A pair of glasses passes that specific test if the lenses and frames are still intact. A quarter-inch ball of steel is blasted at 20 distinct predetermined impact places on a specific pair of eyeglasses in the "high-velocity test." The purpose of this test is to mimic gravel or other tiny particles that could strike eyeglasses when moving quickly.

These are but a handful of instances. Ultimately, though, a pair of glasses needs to adequately shield its owner from various kinds of impact and pressure to satisfy ANSI criteria. Crucially, an eyeglasses set does not have to be regarded as "safety glasses" to pass ANSI testing. If a prescription pair of eyeglasses meets ANSI criteria, they can be considered safety eyewear according to OSHA.

As a result, you can encounter a scenario in which OSHA mandates that your company give you safety eyewear for usage at work. You might be permitted to use your prescription glasses for work, however, if they comply with the applicable ANSI standard. Just to be clear, you must make sure that your eyeglasses adhere to the various ANSI standards.

See our post "What Does ANSI Z87.1 Certified Mean?" for further details regarding ANSI Z87.1.

What Choices Do You Have If You Need Safety Glasses Yet Wear Prescription Glasses?

Sometimes, wearing prescription glasses and having to replace them with safety glasses because of jobs, hobbies, or other circumstances might make it tough to choose between vision and safety. What precisely are your alternatives for protecting your eyes? After all, losing your vision might be just as risky as losing it.

As luck would have it, there are lots. You have several options to choose from, such as merging your two concepts into one to obtain Hudson prescription safety glasses or using little tips to wear both of your prescription glasses with fit-over glasses or goggles.

Is It Possible To Wear Both?

Indeed, you could tolerate a little discomfort in the short term. It's not always possible to wear safety glasses over prescribed glasses, though; it depends on the specific safety glasses you're talking about. The possibility of this working out well increases significantly if we're discussing lab goggles. The majority of goggles are larger than typical and leave room behind the lenses for you to place your glasses; however, this can rely on how big or small your glasses are.

Not to point out that, in the correct situation, you should anticipate that this strategy may somewhat jeopardize the goggles' splash safety. Therefore, it isn't the most strongly advised course of action. Ultimately, it is incompatible with the majority of industrial standard glasses and even with sports safety glasses.

The More Expensive Option?

Buying a pair of wileyx prescription safety glasses is, of course, the simplest of all these choices. The process of getting stronger lenses fitted into an appropriately strong frame and having your eyes evaluated to determine what kind of lenses you need is the same as getting ordinary glasses.

Prescription safety goggles can get through a similar procedure, should you require your equipment for any type of laboratory setting.

When prescription safety glasses were more convenient, many people could avoid the discomfort of having their regular glasses shoved up against their noses from behind their safety goggles. This is a far more comfortable and fitting alternative.

Whether you work in a lab, enjoy woodworking as a hobby, or work in a profession where flying objects is not only worried but also expected, you can choose the kinds of Rx safety glasses that best suit your needs. Even if you engage in mild to extreme sports, where vision is crucial, you can easily find the styles that best suit your needs.

Rx safety eyewear can cost anywhere between $15 to $600, and the price often indicates the quality of the item. It's also critical to consider the risks in your surroundings and determine how much you must invest in eye safety.

Check out Google Inserts!

While it may not meet all safety requirements, it is still a smart choice if you require a prescription for any kind of physical activity, especially skiing, which has significant risks when sight is poor. You can see through your prescription lenses with goggles inserts and maintain eye safety.

Essentially, these are ski goggles with the ability to accept prescription lens inserts. There are fixed insert types most of the time, and then there are goggles with customizable inserts. Since Wileyx prescription safety goggles are frequently a somewhat costly purchase, this offers a means to wear your goggles while continuing to be able to see through your prescription glasses.

There are many possibilities for you to think about, but as is always the case, not all of them can be accessible to you. It ultimately depends on you to determine what works best for you and how to obtain it. Some solutions might not apply, while others could be too uncomfortable to follow consistently. You'll understand what you require once you have that much knowledge.

Taking Care Of Safety Glasses

Your safety glasses need some upkeep to be maintained:

Clean them every day by following the directions provided by the manufacturer or your eye doctor.
To minimize scratches on lenses, which can weaken the lens and impair eyesight, avoid hard handling.
When not in use, keep them in a case or another spotless, dry location.
Change out any broken safety glasses. Glasses that are ill-fitting, cracked, pitted, scratched, or damaged can impair vision and may lose their protective qualities.
To confirm the safety rating, replace broken parts with genuine manufacturer parts.
Avoid adjusting or altering your safety eyewear.

See Clearly: Stay Stylish and Secure

Although you might pair safety goggles over your glasses, doing so would be unpleasant, and distracting, and would even leave you open to serious harassment from coworkers and peers. Purchasing a pair of pentax prescription safety glasses is a more secure and efficient way to safeguard your eyes while working.

The safety protection you require to perform your job is combined with the crisp vision you'd anticipate from your traditional prescription eyeglasses with these frames. You may wear rx safety glasses all day long because they are made to be so stylish and comfortable. Whether you're at home, in the shop, at the workplace, or in the lab, they protect your eyes by:

Offering you prescription lenses with the necessary vision correction; Protecting your eyes from dangerous blue light;
Providing ANSI-approved safety glasses for eye protection with anti-fog treated lenses that never cause haze.
You are known to adore your go-to pair of glasses. Our glasses have the same feel and appearance while shielding your eyes from harm in any circumstance.

We at SEG are pleased to provide an extensive selection of prescription eyewear that meets safety standards. By going to this page, clicking over "safety glasses," and choosing one of the "prescription" options, you can quickly locate some of these spectacles. As you can see, we provide a selection of fashionable and useful rx safety glasses from well-known manufacturers like Wiley X, Guardian, Ongaurd, and Hudson.

Click the specific pair of glasses you are contemplating when you track one that you like. When you do that, you will check which ANSI standards this specific pair meets. Now that you know this, you may buy rx safety glasses with more assurance that you'll be able to wear them to work.