Industrial hazards which can likely cause damage to our face including eyes are flying objects, molten metal, liquid chemicals, potentially injurious light radiation etc.
A face shield is intended to protect the wearer’s partial or entire face and the eyes from hazards. It protects against hazards of high speed flying objects for example drilling, grinding etc. It is also used in hazardous applications where likely chances of chemical splash or molten splash while watching furnaces etc. Face shields are also used to protect eye, face and neck against welding sparks and electrical ARC Flash etc.
Face shields are made from transparent extrusion sheets to provide better impact resistance The face shield has three components — a transparent sheet/film, head bracket, and head strap.
- The transparent sheet/film is made by using various clear materials including polycarbonate, propionate, Polyvinyl chloride, acetate, polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) etc.
- The head bracket is a carrier of face shield
- The head strap is created using rubber or elastic bands or can be with adjustable ratchet gear.
- Test is done at 120 m/s and marked as B, generally tested for face shield.
- Sometimes the test is done at 190 m/s, then it is marked as A.
- The letter T denotes that the face shield has been treated at extremes of temperature (-5°C for 1 hour and +55°C for 1 hour) before the impact test, but this condition is very rare.
No. For proper protection against molten metal, we should use a face shield marked with 9 (as per EN 166, level 9 gives the protection against of molten metal).
No. Electromagnetic energy is given off by an arc or flame can injure workers’ eyes and is commonly referred to as radiant energy or light radiation (also include IR). The face shield must have filter lenses with a shade number, indicating the intensity of light radiation that is allowed to pass through a filter lens to one’s eyes. Therefore, the higher the shade number (also referred as DIN), the darker the filter and the less light radiation that will pass through the lens.
Yes, polycarbonate face shield can perform the operation like furnace observation where the risk (exposure to molten metal, high radiant heat etc.) is very high. Though material like polycarbonate has a certain melting point in a contact heat.
