January 2023
Seeing Through The Fog
Did you know that according to a NIOSH Data tool, Work-Related Injury Statistics Query System, 118,000 eye-related injuries were seen in emergency rooms during 2019? What’s more, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that from 2011 to 2019, there were more than 219,000 days away from work due to eye injuries.
Vision loss can occur in multiple ways, including:
- Contact from small particulates or objects in the eye area,
- Blunt force trauma to the eye socket area, or
- Burns from thermal or chemical sources.
It Pays To Protect!
The good news is … a small investment in proper eyewear can avoid unnecessary injury costs. OSHA’s Safety Pays website estimates that the total indirect and direct costs of an occupational vision loss injury is $159,358 — using injury data from 2015-2017. In comparison, safety glasses only cost an average of $5 to $20 per pair.
Clearly, protecting the eyes is a critical safety measure in any work environment — hot or cold! Alas, safety glasses or goggles can frost or fog, impairing workers’ vision. Unfortunately, workers tend to try to fix this by NOT wearing their glasses properly — sliding them away from their forehead to prevent fogging. And sometimes coveralls, protective clothing, or other personal protective equipment reduce airflow, which increases the chances of fogging.
Why Do Glasses And Goggles Fog?
When there is a temperature difference between a worker’s safety glasses, the air temperature, and the water vapor in the air, lenses will fog up. When it’s cold outside, warm breath or body heat will cause water vapor to condense on the lenses. The same happens when someone is working hard outside, and it’s hot.
Safety glasses with an anti-fog permanent coating have a chemically bonded coating on both sides of the lenses. This results in a coating that doesn’t fog, even between cold and hot conditions. A thin layer of water may develop on the lens, but it’s transparent, so workers can see through it, unlike fog.
Safety goggles have the worst tendency to fog up! To combat fogging, some goggles have a vent that helps circulate air or dissipate heat from around the eye area. Talk to different vendors and ask for samples to try on your workers to see what works best.
Seal Up
Respiratory device usage has sky-rocketed due to the coronavirus. Many workers complain that lens fogging is unavoidable. While using a respiratory device that has a sealing surface against the user’s face, if the seal is weak, it could cause the glasses to fog as air escapes around the seal.
Double-check to ensure your workers’ respirators have a tight seal against their faces. Ensure the nose piece bar is pressed against the nose to reduce escaping air. For filtering facepieces like N95s, workers can wear their glasses over the respirator, which helps to reduce fogging.
Tips From The Trenches
Having spent two decades as a safety professional, I’ve come across many home remedies for fogging glasses. Some workers swear by applying shaving cream, saliva, or soap to lenses to create a protective barrier. I’ve actually seen workers over the years use these home remedies with success! They’d apply it, let it dry, and buff off the lenses. Keep in mind that certain chemicals can remove protective coatings from safety glasses, so check with the manufacturer first.
Stay Clear
To sum it up, increasing airflow or using a chemical lens coating will ensure your workers’ lenses stay clear while maintaining sharp vision. Applying several of the tips mentioned above together will prevent fogging the best — or at least reduce it enough so workers can see!