Redefining Eye Safety: The Rise of Modernized Safety Goggles
How new approaches to product design are striking a balance between style, comfort and enhanced protection in the workplace.
- By Vincent Azibert
- Oct 11, 2023
Walk around any job site and it’s likely you’ll see more workers switching to goggles over safety glasses. While safety goggles are certainly not a new concept, recent innovations aim to make them more comfortable to wear, which is fueling category growth as more workers shift to the additional protection that goggles provide.
Today’s modernized safety goggles provide a tighter, sealed fit and are ideal for workers who may find themselves in environments that produce flying debris and projectiles that could potentially be harmful to the users’ eyes.
Beyond the framework of meeting and even exceeding applicable safety standards, we are seeing new goggle designs in the market that focus on improved fit, comfort, and customization features to cater to a diverse range of users.
Because every face is different, there has been a strong commitment to developing goggles aimed at fitting a much wider range of users, spanning from those with various facial features such as large or narrow faces, low or high cheeks and shapes regardless of gender.
Giving Goggles a Second Look
Industry engineers are striving to make today’s industrial goggles both attractive and more comfortable, without compromising safety and protection. While safety obviously remains the most critical feature of PPE eyewear, it must also meet user style expectations. Many workers think about style (how do I look?), comfort (how do I feel?) and the impact goggles have on their work (how do I see and does my PPE negatively impact my ability to do my job?). We found that the products offered in the past do not quite tick all these boxes and felt it was important to enhance the design and functionality of this segment of safety goggles.
The newest goggle designs in the market incorporate cushioned fit technologies, providing more comfort features where the soft frame that attaches to the main frame includes comfort bellows that enable the product to self-adjust to virtually any face shape or head size. This dramatically reduces the risk of discomfort and pain points while securing the tightness of the goggle on the face.
At the same time, however, industry engineers have been working hard at solving a wide range of problems that go beyond just comfort and fit.
There are various situations where wearing goggles is important, but they do not all include exposure to the same risks. For instance, while tightness is usually a common need for those who select goggles over glasses, some workers may be exposed only to liquid splashes while others would need to also be protected against dust or even gas hazards, thus requiring a fully sealed and tight eyewear solution.
This article originally appeared in the October 2023 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.