Food for thought......About two weeks ago, I was conducting an inventory cruise along a drainage in South Central Virginia. The area has had extensive beaver activity in the past and was extremely difficult to traverse. Hot and tired, I was crashing through the brush when a branch brushed across the surface of my eye. I didn't think much of it at the time as it caused little pain and didn't affect my vision for but a minute or two. I finished up the day and returned to the office. Upon washing my hands, I noticed that about half of my eye was blood red. Evidently, a blood vessel had been broken. The following day, I was back in the same hole and took a Virginia pine branch stub just below the left eye. It broke the skin. Had it been an inch higher, it would have been a substantial eye injury.
I know that safety glasses should be worn when cruising, but I don't like them as they are a pain in the butt. I guess that is better than the loss of an eye. During my carreer, I have had two other work related injuries.....both eye injuries. One was another branch in the eye. The other was a spec of airborn sawdust when walking across the mill yard from my office to my pickup. I couldn't see it in the eye....coworkers couldn't see it......water flushing wouldn't remove it. It took a trip to the doctor and some fluorescent dye to find it, but it felt like a boulder in there. I've started looking around for comfortable safety glasses. Anybody have a brand preference?
One of my off-loaders had some that wrapped around his face and were very comfortable. I don't usually wear safety glasses because I wear correction glasses and they suffice. The last time I was in the Eye Doctor's office I noticed that they were carrying lines of sports glasses and safety glasses. Some of the sports glasses were pretty good looking and efforts had been made to ventilate them so that they wouldn't fog. That might be a place to start shopping for safety glasses. You could even get them tinted if you needed them that way. :)
MSC Supply has a good selection of safety glasses.
http://www.mscdirect.com/
I had a Lasik procedure a couple of years ago that did not go well - tore the cornea in my left eye. Now I only have good vision in one eye and I am very protective of that eye. I always wear safety glasses. I have not found any yet that do not fog up, especially when climbing in and out of the ravines in my woods.
I buy my safety glasses from the local hardware store, I think they're AO Safety. They wrap around the sides, and are the most comfortable safety glasses I've ever owned. My eyes are magnets for stuff. Years ago I had to have a tiny piece of metal removed from my eye, along with some rust scraping :o Also been to the optometrist to have at least three pieces of sawdust taken out. I can usually get most pieces myself, but when they are under my eyelid, I'm at a loss. I always wear my glasses when I'm cutting, but I usually take them off when the saws are shut down, and most debris gets in my eye when I'm stacking lumber or firewood. Two days ago I walked my eye right into an apple branch while concentrating on a piece of string cheese ::)
Always close the sliding rear window in the truck if there's sawdust back there....got some in my eye that way, too :(
They do also make side shields for your regular glasses. They look really numb but they increase the safely covered area. I, too, have had injuries from twigs in my eye(s)- never had to get any medical attention. Not so with a grinding wheel. I will preach about goggles with those. lw