Top 9 Best Safety Glasses for Construction (2020 Review)

Construction safety is something you can never compromise with. Whether you’re constructing a skyscraper or a backyard pool, safety comes first. And equipping safety gear may put you well out of harm’s way. In this article, we’re going to give you some insights into one of the most important safety equipment, safety glasses.

You should wear safety glasses while doing any sort of construction work. Even more so if your work involves small particles, liquids, and shrapnel like material that are likely to spill or fly around. Safety glasses block these foreign materials from reaching your eyes, preventing minor to severe damage. So let’s take a look at our list of best safety glasses for construction so you can make your pick.

The Best Safety Glasses for Construction

Safety glasses protect your eyes from serious damages. They keep harmful construction substances such as debris, sawdust, sparks, toxic gas, and other high/low energy particles away from your eyes. Most of them nowadays feature anti-UV technology.

But since the preferences vary from person to person, we took the liberty to create a shortlist featuring the top 9 construction safety glasses available at the moment. Take a look and you may find the variant that suits you most.

Safety Glasses for Construction: Buying guide

Safety glasses, as the name suggests should be capable of protecting your eyes even under extreme conditions. They should also be comfortable to wear, have good ventilation, adjustable design, etc. So depending on the type of your work environment and exposure, here are a few things that you should consider before buying construction safety glasses.

Glasses or goggles?

The classic struggle. Construction safety glasses are like traditionally designed glasses. Except they are sturdier and thicker. The lens is made of plastic or polycarbonate. They often feature side shields. Like common glasses, they sit on the nose and ears.

Goggles, on the other hand, have frames of rubber or polymers around the edges. They are adjustable as they feature an elastic strap that goes to the back of your head. Goggles have better concealment than glasses. But for long term works, they may start to feel uncomfortable.

Impact resistance

The first and most important feature of safety glass is the protection of your eyes. One of the many dangers you may encounter on a construction site is stray materials charging at your face. There’s no guarantee that you could always react in time. So your glass should have good impact resistance.

Nowadays, plastic and polycarbonate glasses are popular as they don’t shatter easily. If they did, that would create a bigger problem. Silica glasses are brittle and may break into tiny shards, damaging your eyes. So try to buy a polycarbonate lens as they are sturdy and more likely to save you from severe damage and even blindness.

Vision

The glass should preferably have clear direct and peripheral vision. Trading visibility and performance for only protection doesn’t make sense. The glass should be clear and scratchproof. It should allow normal vision without deformation and distortion.

Some glasses tend to fog up quickly and create haziness. Some accumulate scratches way faster than others. These are not ideal for long term usage. Allowing sufficient peripheral or field vision is also important. You’d undoubtedly want your eye coverage to be at a maximum in a construction site.

So choose a glass that’s scratch and fog-resistant, have good peripheral vision, and No distortion, providing you with the best possible vision every time you work.

Concealment

Concealment of glass or goggle is as important as any. Especially if you work in an environment where dusty materials may generate and float around. Or where toxic fumes are present. In those cases, just frontal protection is not enough as the dust or gas may still get to your eyes through the openings of your glass. Or dust particles may manage to cloud the insides of your glass, clouding your vision.

Construction goggles hold the upper hand in these cases. They often come with rubber paddings at the borders to seal the openings between your face and the glass. They also feature adjustable straps so you can pretty much control the openings. Also, glasses may fog up if there are openings. So the best choice would be a fully concealed goggle with anti-fog properties.

UV protection

If your work involves long term exposure to the sun, then you must consider a glass or goggle with good UV protection ratings. Longer sun exposure may damage your eyes. There are construction safety sunglasses available for these situations. Some advanced construction goggles offer UVB and UVC protection as well.
The reason your eyes need to be protected is in this video:

Verdict

Construction safety glasses vary widely based on build, model, and functions. Depending on your job, you may want glasses with specific features and we believe our guide has already got everything covered. But no matter what you choose, remember, Safety First.