Contact lenses

Does anyone have info on the permitted use of contact lenses in relation to Arc Flash / PPE

I don't have any information, but I would assume that, like other codes and standards, if it isn't explicitly forbidden, then it is implicitly allowed.

Wear safety glasses and/or face shield as necessary.

Good question

I had kind of wondered about this, since I have been wearing contact lenses since I was 15. For those of you who don't know me well, that's been a good little while. I know that when I went to 2M training in the Navy, they told us not to wear soft contacts when soldering unless we wore safety glasses because of some semi-corrosive element in solder smoke that would pit them if the smoke got in your eyes. Aside from that, I have never seen any vocational precautions for contacts, and I usually pay attention to that.

Regarding contact lenses and arc flash, I happen to have some personal anecdotal experience to share. Like many of us who have been in the electrical field for a number of years, I have been involved in an arc fault incident. It was many years ago, right after I left the Navy in fact. I didn't have a lot of experience with electrical distribution equipment, having been an avionics tech and accustomed to working on systems with lower voltage. My arcing fault was of sufficient magnitude that while wearing safety glasses, I was still temporarily blinded. My vision was completely gone for several minutes, but had completely returned within half an hour or so. Obviously I had that checked out with my optometrist immediately. He gave me a thorough examination, and made not mention of any risk associated with what had happened with regard to damage to my lenses or to my eyes because of the lenses. However, to this day I still have sensitivity to bright light, moreso than before the arcing fault exposure.

I'm no physician, but I have to imagine that your ANSI Z87.1 rated eyewear would be sufficient to protect your eyes to a degree that would preclude any damage related to failure of the material from which your contact lenses are made. Conversely, I would think that if you were to be exposed to an arcing fault that was strong enough to pass through your safety glasses like they weren't even there, it wouldn't really matter if you had contacts on. Of course, this is just my two cents....

I prefer you opt for Daily Disposable Contact Lenses rather then permitted as they are cheap and easy to use and they also doesn't have a build - up of protein layer on the lenses which is good for our eyes. I think the permitted one's makes the eyes dry at time of sleep that the think for which i prefer this.