| Safety glasses should be worn by personnel in | | | | mankind similar to antibiotics since before this time |
| manufacturing, construction, medical, some | | | | people would simply go blind, lose an eye, and |
| service industries and sometimes sports. Although | | | | wear an eye patch. Pirates, who traditionally wore |
| eye injury is a higher risk for these individuals, | | | | eye patches, did so because the violent nature of |
| many people do not wear eye protection for one | | | | their profession meant that many of them lost or |
| reason or another. Here is the history of safety | | | | damaged their eyes. |
| glasses and how they evolved in protecting our | | | | Machining, metal shaping, and wood workers are |
| eyes; when we remember to wear them. | | | | all at greater risk for eye damage due to the |
| Roger Bacon was the first reported celebrity to | | | | shards of material that fly around when working |
| wear glasses, or at least to use a device called | | | | with their machines. In the 1940s companies |
| "reading lenses." The first real glasses were made | | | | began making eyeglass protection specifically for |
| by Italian monks around the 1280s. It wasn't until | | | | these industries. Today, other industries such as |
| 1880 that an "eye protector" patent was issued | | | | medical technicians and scientists who are in |
| to P. Johnson, an African-American inventor. | | | | danger of blood contamination from spilled or |
| Accurate safety glasses weren't created until | | | | splashed samples may choose to wear eye |
| 1914 when Garret Morgan patented safety glass | | | | protection. Some people wear eye protection |
| as part of his new invention, the gas mask. "It | | | | when playing sports as well. |
| was not until the outbreak of World War I that | | | | Half of all eye injuries happen to individuals in |
| safety glasses found their first practical, | | | | manufacturing positions. Much of the time, a lack |
| wide-scale application: as the lenses or Safety | | | | of safety glasses was the catalyst for increased |
| Spectacles for gas masks." | | | | damage. People might think safety glasses look |
| After auto makers saw the success of safety | | | | dumb, or are uncomfortable, or are hard to see |
| glass, they incorporated it into their car | | | | through, but they might save your vision. After all, |
| windshields. Eye protection has been a benefit to | | | | you've only got one pair of eyes. |