The face and head require a special degree of protection during work, especially when all kinds of splashes, dust or intense and eye-threatening light are involved. Welding is definitely one of the most dangerous working environments in this regard, where goggles should protect not only from mechanical injuries, but also from radiation and splashes emitted from welded metals. Nowadays on the market of health and safety accessories appear many different types of accessories for face and eye protection, characterized by greater or lesser resistance to specific factors. How to choose the right welding goggles?
Welding goggles, safety glasses or maybe a visor?
When choosing an eye shield suitable for a welder, it is worth knowing first what the differences are between the variants of protective accessories available on the market. So here we have safety glasses, available both with and without a side shield. Glasses here can be equipped with protective filters or not, although, of course, in the case of welding, they will be necessary to protect against harmful radiation. Goggles are a more built-up version of goggles, covering the face more closely and also protecting against various types of dust entering the eyes.
Welding visors are the most built-up version of face protection, looking like a knight's helmet. Their task is to protect the entire face. So, in a nutshell, it can be specified that goggles only protect the eyes on the front and possibly on the side, while in goggles the protection already covers the entire eye sockets. Face shields and visors protect the entire face from the front and sides, and often from above, guaranteeing the highest level of protection.
One of the main parameters taken into account when determining the category of eye protection is the force with which a splinter can strike - all eye shields on the market today are tested against it. The highest class of protection is provided by total face shields, including welding visors, capable of protecting the body from an impact of up to 190 m/s, while the lowest is goggles, resistant to an energy of up to 45 m/s.
It is worth noting, however, that it is almost impossible to precisely determine the speed of splashes, so it is most often guided by the principle of choosing adequately to the type of work performed. In addition to eye protection, other aspects of protection during welding are also important, which you will read about in this post: https://www.bhp-gabi.com/a23,ochrona-spawacza-niezbedny-sprzet.html.
What should be the characteristics of welding goggles?
Welding is a very special form of interaction with plastics, generating optical radiation, metal splatter and welding fumes that are harmful to the eyes. For this reason, the need for specialized protection of the eyes, or in some cases the entire face, is an absolute requirement of health and safety. Welding goggles, goggles and welding visors, however, cannot be chosen at random, as depending on the type of welding being performed, the degree of protection should be selected accordingly.
Welding goggles, such as the GOG-CIRCLE ZB model, are available both with tilting frames equipped with additional filters or without frames, in which case the filters are located directly in the frame (as in the case of the GOG-CIRSMA B goggles. Due to the characteristics of the protection provided by this type of solution, welding goggles are used primarily in gas welding and brazing, rather than in electric arc welding or micro-plasma welding, where it is necessary to shield the entire face.
Welding goggles, like goggles, can come with either tilt frames or filters built into the frame. An important element here, of course, are side shields that also protect the side of the eye area from splatter. The goggles are used nowadays only for hard welding, because only there they are able to provide sufficient protection for the welder in terms of health and safety - a good example is UVEX SPAWALING GOGGLES FUTURA 9180.041-046. 
The last variant of face protection are welding visors, providing protection for the entire face of the worker. This is by far the most technically advanced variant of eye protection during welding - the visors can be equipped with a single, double or automatic filter, self-adjusting to the degree of radiation emitted during welding. One such visor is the OTW-AUTODARK G model, suitable for use with welding machines using an electric arc, as well as during oxygen or plasma jet cutting.
Choosing the right welding goggles
Welding goggles available in the bhp-gabi.com store include all variants of eye protection, so matching them to specific welding work conditions should not be a problem. During the selection, you should be guided first of all by the requirements for a given workstation set by occupational safety and health regulations, as well as by the standards that are met by specific models.
Manufacturers always mark the level of protection guaranteed by the goggles precisely in the form of generally accepted norms and standards, although, of course, it is worthwhile to read the characteristics of individual shields beforehand and, based on them, direct your attention towards specific products.
