PRESCRIPTION SAFETY GLASSES PROGRAM

The Environmental Health and Safety Office has coordinated with a local vendor to offer faculty and staff that wear glasses the opportunity to obtain prescription safety glasses. The program uses Winchester Optical Company in Elmira and is offered through Vision's Edge in Hamilton. The procedure for obtaining prescription safety glasses is as follows:

1. Obtain approval from your department Budget Manager. The cost of the prescription safety glasses must be charged to a department account. The cost per pair will depend on frame style and lens type but will average between $75 and $150.
2. Request or pick up a Safety Rx Form from the Environmental Health and Safety Office, SB-4 McGregory Hall.
3. Fill out the Safety Rx Form and take it and your prescription to Vision's Edge (The JCPenney Catalog Store, 18 Broad Street, 824-4218).
4. Vision's Edge will measure you, show you the choices of frames and discuss options. All glasses will come with attached side shields as required by OSHA and ANSI Z87.1.
5. Your order will be faxed to Winchester Optical's Lab in Elmira.
6. Vision's Edge will call you when your glasses arrive from Winchester.

The Prescription Safety Glasses Program was established to make it easier for faculty and staff who wear glasses to comply with minimum eye protection requirements during their laboratory work and to increase their comfort while wearing the eye protection. Ordinary prescription eyeglasses are not safety glasses and are not allowed as a substitution for proper eye protection. Safety glasses (prescription or non-prescription) with side shields do not provide protection against chemical splash or spray. Faculty and staff who obtain prescription safety glasses will still need to wear splash goggles or a faceshield over their glasses for situations that warrant an increased level of protection.