Glasses on, then the extra piece
Eye safety 5 min 29 CFR 1926.102
Why it matters
Dust, a chip, a nail, or a chemical can wreck an eye. Wear protection when the work can send any of those at your face. Safety glasses are the baseline. A face shield does not replace them. Use glasses rated for the job, with side shields when chips fly.
The talk
Wear eye protection when the work can send dust, a chip, a nail, a chemical, or light into your eye. That covers cutting, nailing, grinding, chipping, drilling overhead, mixing, and any task that throws something you would not want in your eye. Safety glasses are the baseline. Put them on before the tool starts. 1926.102 is the rule that puts eye and face protection on this work. Glasses that live in your pocket do not count. If you take them off to see the line better, that is when the chip comes. Leave them on while the tool is still in your hand. Pushing them up onto your hard hat is the same as taking them off.
A face shield is extra. It does not replace glasses. A chip can come under the shield, or bounce off your shirt and up. Wear the glasses under the shield. Goggles go over glasses when the dust or the splash can come around the side. Glasses alone leave a gap by the temple. Grinding dust, a chemical splash, and grit on the wind use that gap. If the goggles will not fit over your glasses, tell the foreman. Do not take your regular glasses off and squint. Use the glasses rated for the job, with side shields when chips fly.
Lenses you cannot see through are done. A scratch across the middle, pits from grinding, a crack at the edge: replace them. Dirty lenses get washed. Scratched lenses you cannot see through get replaced. Do not keep a pair you have to tilt your head to see past. That is how you miss the nail leaving the gun, or the stub of rebar at the walkway. Look at your partner too. If their glasses are broken or missing, say so before the work starts. One person without eye protection in a cloud of dust is a person the crew may be walking to the eyewash.
Key points
- Wear eye protection when dust, a chip, a nail, a chemical, or light can reach your eye.
- Safety glasses are the baseline. Put them on before the tool starts.
- A face shield is extra and does not replace glasses.
- Goggles go over glasses when dust or a splash can come around the side.
- Use glasses rated for the job, with side shields when chips fly.
- Replace scratched lenses you cannot see through.
- Tell a partner if their glasses are missing or broken before the work starts.
Do this
- Put safety glasses on before cutting, nailing, grinding, drilling, or mixing.
- Wear glasses under a face shield.
- Add goggles over glasses when dust or splash can come around the side.
- Use glasses rated for the job, with side shields when chips fly.
- Replace lenses you cannot see through.
Do not do this
- Do not treat a face shield as a substitute for safety glasses.
- Do not push your glasses up on your hard hat while the tool is in your hand.
- Do not rely on glasses alone when dust or splash can come around the side.
- Do not keep wearing scratched lenses you cannot see through.
- Do not take your regular glasses off and squint because the goggles will not fit.
Talk about it
- Which tasks today can throw a chip, dust, a nail, or a chemical at the eyes?
- Who needs goggles over glasses, and who needs a shield with glasses under it?
- Whose lenses are too scratched to see through, and where are the replacements?
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Send to the crew
The crew link opens the talk so each person can read it and sign on their own phone.
Scan at the jobsite. It opens the crew sign-off.