Safety and Tactical Eyewear in Duvall, WA

Guide to Safety and Tactical Glasses: Features to Look for

When it comes to safety glasses, the ones you can purchase without a prescription can offer good protection for your eyes if you don’t wear glasses or use contact lenses.

These glasses usually wrap around the eyes and create a shield against elements. To ensure maximum protection, you should choose glasses with polycarbonate lenses, which is the strongest lens material available.

Features of Safety and Tactical Frames
Frames designed for safety and tactical purposes have several important features, with the most critical being an ANSI Z87 safety rating. You should never purchase glasses without this rating.

Sometimes, these frames may have padding around the eyes to cushion the frame against impact, or they may have soft silicon pads around the nose to keep the frame in place.

Frames are created from various materials, such as titanium, plastic, metals and polycarbonate.

Lenses for Safety and Tactical Glasses

Polycarbonate lenses offer "bounce back" and "blow back" protection. They’re also highly resistant to impact. However, other materials for safety lenses can also meet thickness requirements.

Tactical frames come in an array of colors which can be used in various lighting conditions. Orange and yellow lenses block blue light and haze. Bright yellow lenses work well in low light or foggy conditions.

A light purple lens is ideal for seeing an orange target against a green background. Vermilion lenses allow a target to stand out against a natural outdoor background.

Gray lenses offer a neutral or natural color, allowing you to see all colors naturally and they work well in strong sunshine. Polarized lenses are recommended for outdoor use because they reduce glare, especially near water.

Z87 ANSI Standards
Updated in 2015, the recent update to the ANSI Z87.1 standard aims to align with international standards while considering the needs of users, workplace hazards and regulatory obligations.

This standard states that the choice of safety eyewear is dependent on what type of protection is needed for specific workplace hazards, such as blunt impact, radiation, splashes and droplets, dust, and small dust particles.

ANSI Z87.1 certified safety glasses undergo rigorous testing to ensure they protect the eyes as expected. This includes basic and high-impact tests for lenses and frames, exposure to non-ionizing radiation and chemicals, and durability to flammables and corrosion.

The following video from Edge Eyewear does an excellent job demonstrating the different tests performed on safety eyewear. After seeing how badly non-safety-rated eyewear fails these basic tests, you’ll only want to purchase ANSI-Z87.1 rated eyewear.