5 Questions with Billy Tesh

1. There is a lot of safety equipment available out there. What one item do you think is the most important?

That’s a good question! While you wouldn’t want to choose just a single safety item in reality, there is one you should put at the top of your list, and that’s safety glasses. It sounds like such a simple thing, but the consequences of not using safety glasses can be permanent and tragic. And when you’re closing crawl spaces, eye protection is absolutely imperative. It’s often hard to see and that makes the chances of running into something that can injure an eye much greater. Also, crawl spaces tend to be messy places with ductwork, nails, insulation and all sorts of other surprises that can cause significant injury. Between the lack of light and the amount of potential clutter, safety glasses are certainly the first thing you think of when assembling your PPE.

2. Do regular glasses offer enough protection?

Unfortunately, no. Safety eyewear conforms to a higher standard of impact resistance. While regular prescription glasses obviously offer a barrier to everyday events in our regular lives, that’s not their purpose. They can’t qualify as occupational “safety glasses” unless they meet the safety eyewear standards established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The ANSI standards are also used by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

3. What kinds of safety glasses are there?

The two kinds of safety glasses are prescription (available from an eye care professional) and non-prescription (“plano”) safety glasses, then there are two classifications of impact resistance: basic and high impact. The choice of impact level depends on your occupation, and some activities require even more protection, such as side shields, goggles or full face protection. Wrap styles are popular for any activity that might need a side shield.

Many styles are available depending on your needs and personal preferences. Options include padding, magnification, over-glasses fitting, anti-reflective (AR) coating, polarized lenses, various patterns and lens tints. Eye professionals can even prescribe bifocals and progressive lenses as well as standard prescriptions.

The lens material is also important. Many people prefer polycarbonate lenses because they weigh less than half than glass and are also more impact resistant. Unfortunately, they’re softer than glass, so they’re more easily scratched. Anyone who wears regular glasses is aware of this problem!

4. What kind of safety glasses should I be looking at for closed crawl space work?

If you choose eyewear protection with the highest impact standard, you can’t go wrong in just about any occupation. For crawl space work, in particular, we also recommend non-polarized glasses because you don’t need polarized lenses in a crawl space as there is no sun to create glare and sun hazes. (You might opt to have anti-reflective lenses to help with glare from the artificial lighting in a closed area, but they aren’t a necessity.) Almost as important as impact resistance for practical working conditions are anti-fog lenses. When you get into a crawl space, you’ll probably find your glasses fog up the minute you put them on! It’s not only frustrating, it’s dangerous.

5. There are thousands of safety glasses out there. What do you recommend?

Because we offer quality materials to close crawl spaces and we felt this issue was so critical, we now offer products from Edge Safety Eyewear. Edge takes pride in merging cutting-edge technology with contemporary fashion, providing the finest safety-rated eyewear on the market. They not only offer the best impact protection, but also premium anti-fog protection with their revolutionary Vapor Shield technology.

Edge’s impact resistance is phenomenal. It’s tested in independent laboratories for compliance with both ANSI Z87.1+2015 and Military Ballistic MCEPS GL-PD 10-12 – in fact Military Ballistic MCEPS safety standards simulate a shotgun blast from 33 feet!

Many Edge Eyewear models feature their unique Vapor Shield Anti-Fog technology. It’s so common to see technicians in a crawl space with glasses so fogged up that they can’t see. No matter how many times they stop to clean them, they just fog up again. So what happens? They remove the glasses and keep working! That’s a critical problem that now has an easy fix. This isn’t your Grandpa’s standard anti-fog. It’s a special application that is absolutely impervious to fog and recommended for “extreme” environments — like a crawl space!

In addition to their superior impact resistance and available Vapor Shield models, Edge has a wide variety of styles to suit individual tastes and fits — everything from lens tints to goggle kits. Edge offers unique features to fit the specific needs of different work environments and various facial structures. Their glasses also provide 99.9% UVA/UVB/UVC protection. We feel that adding quality safety products like Edge Eyewear helps complete our crawl space product line.

These Edge Eyewear models feature Vapor Shield, Edge’s revolutionary military grade anti-fog coating that totally prevents any fogging in any environment. All Edge Eyewear lenses also filter dangerous UVA, UVB and UVC rays for optimal safety.

The Edge Caraz Safety Glasses feature clear lenses for optimal clarity plus an EVA foam gasket ideal when working in environments with high levels of airborne debris, dust or wind. The arms detach so that you can attach an adjustable head band to keep the glasses secured to your head regardless of your orientation.

The Edge Brazeau-Torque, Khor G2 and Dakura Safety Glasses are all designed to fit comfortably with a stylish look. The Brazeau and Khor G2 feature clear lenses with pristine clarity, so they are an excellent safety choice for indoor and low light conditions. The Dakura’s yellow tint provides slightly less light transmission than clear lenses when light is present, but items appear with more clarity. Technicians really like using these in a crawl space environment.