You almost always work facing what you are doing. Your face is a vulnerable part of your body, because it has most of your senses. So protecting your eyes and face is essential.

When you wear eye protection, only your eyes are protected from the impact, leaving the rest of your face unprotected. When you wear facial protection, your entire face is protected, from your forehead to your chin.
Materials

In the case of facial protection, another option is that of mesh visors, which can made from synthetic material or metal. They are commonly used in forestry and similar activities.
What are the relevant standards?
Normering | |
---|---|
NEN-EN 166 | Requirements safety glass, specifications |
NEN-EN 167 | Optical tests |
NEN-EN 168 | Non-optical tests |
NEN-EN 169 | Filters for welding and related techniques |
NEN-EN 170 | Ultraviolet filter |
NEN-EN 171 | Infrared filter |
NEN-EN 172 | Sunlight filters for industrial use |
NEN-EN 175 | Tools for eye and face protection during welding and related processes |
NEN-EN 207 | Filters and eye protectors against laser beams |
NEN-EN 379 | Automatic welding filters |
Types of face protection
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In addition, there are various colors to choose from. That has to be coordinated during the work. Examples are bright, amber (yellow) and smoke (grey/blue/black). Different shades of green are also used. They are used when you are welding yourself, or when colleagues in your immediate environment are welding.
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As far as the goggles are concerned, different shapes are available:
- Standard safety goggles,
- Cover googles, in combination with corrective glasses,
- Cyclops glasses.
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Many people already wear glass to correct nearsightedness or farsightedness. That can be transferred to safety goggles, to prevent having to wear two pairs of glasses. There are different options:
- Safety goggles with prescription glasses
- Safety goggles with a standard reading part
- Inserts where you can have prescription glasses placed, which you can put behind the safety glass of your goggles.
Coatings
There are different coatings as well that are applied to the lenses:
- Anti-fog, for additional protection against condensation,
- Anti-scratch, for additional protection against scratching,
- Polarized coatings, against glares,
- Etc.

As far as facial screens are concerned, there are also various options:
- The standard facial screens made from polycarbonate and acetate,
- Mesh visors,
- Welding caps.
Lens marking

- Application area: type of filtering (2-6_
- Shade: Colorless (C) or tinted
- Protection class: impact of light (1.2 – 6)
- Supplier logo
- Optical class: distortion of the image (1 – 3)
- Mechanical resistance (S, F, B, A, K, N + T)
Proper use

The maintenance instructions can be found in the user manual. In addition, cleaning kits are available, including, among other things, cleaning wipes for maintaining the lenses.
Advice

Maurits - Operational PPE-adviseur
+31 184 434 455 info@veiliggoed.nl
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