In accordance with Law 31/1995 on the Prevention of Occupational Risks and its article 14 Workers have the right to effective protection in terms of health and safety at work.
The employer shall guarantee the safety and health of his workers and all aspects of the work they carry out'. And, therefore, the cost of measures relating to safety and health at work must in no way be borne by the workers.
Company responsibility for risk prevention
Statistically, 63% of the Spanish population needs vision correction, hence the importance of the question: Is it compulsory to provide prescription safety glasses to workers who require them?
In this sense, the answer is clear. If the risk assessment identifies eye risks that cannot be avoided with collective corrective measures, the employer must provide free certified protective glasses to cover the risk for which they are intended and keep a legal record of their delivery.
From a legal point of view, if we are talking about the need for intensive use of eye protection, a neutral protective goggle cannot offer effective protection to a worker with a need for visual correction.. There are protective goggle covers (full frame or universal type) which, when combined with the worker's own prescription glasses in an intensive way, are not suitable for several reasons. Firstly, when a worker wears a protective goggle cover on top of his own prescription glasses, an impact received on the protective goggle cover can have repercussions on the inner goggle (which is not a safety goggle), causing risk for the worker. Additionally, the worker is exposed to glare due to the fact that the double lens, and added weight causes a lot of discomfort if overprotection is required for most of the working day
Effective eye protection
In conclusion, if the exposure to risk is occasional, protective goggle covers over prescription glasses may be a good option. But if eye protection is required during most of the working day, according to Law 31/1995 on Occupational Risk Prevention and its article 14, the option considered as "effective protection" is the prescription safety goggles for the visual correction of the worker that have obtained the CE Certification. To this end, it is important to highlight that both the frames and the prescription protective lenses must bear the CE Certification marks, informing of their impact level (Medium S or High F) and their optical quality.
Frequently asked questions
