Safety sunglasses and impact ratings: what Z87 means and when ordinary sunglasses are not enough

Ordinary sunglasses are not safety glasses. A safety rating means the lens and the frame have passed a defined impact test, and a pair without the rating has not been tested and should not be assumed to protect against anything hitting it. In the US the mark to look for is Z87 on the lens or frame, or Z87+ for high impact, from the ANSI Z87.1 standard; in Europe it is EN 166 with an impact class letter. Tinted and polarized safety lenses exist, so sun protection and impact protection are not in conflict. Our sunglasses carry no impact rating, and for construction, workshops, yard work or any sport with flying debris, that is the reason to buy a rated pair instead.

What a safety rating is

An impact rating is a test result. The standard specifies what is fired at the lens, how fast, and what counts as a pass: the lens must not crack, shatter or come out of the frame, and nothing must reach the eye. A pair that passes can be marked; a pair that has not been tested cannot.

That is the whole difference between safety eyewear and everything else. Lens material matters, polycarbonate is the usual choice because it is the toughest common lens, but the rating is about the tested assembly, not the material. A polycarbonate sunglass lens in an untested frame is not safety eyewear.

The marks

The mark is moulded or printed on the lens or the temple arm. If it is not there, the pair is not rated, whatever the packaging says.

When you need one

Anything that can put a fragment in your eye faster than you can blink:

• Construction and demolition. OSHA requires rated eye protection where there is a hazard, and Z87 is the baseline.
• Workshop and DIY. Grinding, cutting, drilling, hammering, chiselling. A single chip does the damage.
• Yard work. Strimmers and mowers throw stones. This is the one most people skip.
• Shooting sports. Rated eyewear is standard at any range.
• Ball and stick sports at competitive level, where sport-specific standards exist.
• Motorcycling on an open-face helmet. Our motorcycle post covers why.

For all of these, an unrated pair of sunglasses is the wrong tool, however good the lens.

Tinted and polarized safety lenses

Sun and debris often arrive together: a roofer, a road crew, a landscaper. Safety eyewear comes with tinted lenses, grey and brown, and with polarized lenses, and the impact rating is unaffected by the tint. What to check:

• The Z87 or EN 166 mark, first.
• A stated UV claim. Most polycarbonate safety lenses block UV by material, but look for it stated. Our UV400 vs polarized post explains the labels.
• A tint that is not too dark. Work moves between sun and shade. Our lens categories post explains the bands; category 2 or 3.
• Side shields or a wrap. Debris comes from the side.
• Anti-fog. A rated pair that fogs gets taken off, and then it protects nothing. Our fogging post covers it.

Why ours are not rated

Our T01 is a light plastic frame with a laminated tri acetate cellulose lens. The lens flexes rather than shatters, which is better than glass, but neither the lens nor the frame has been through an impact test, and we do not claim any rating. Every product page states what is known about the construction and what is not. For sun without debris, it is a good lens. For sun with debris, buy the rated pair, and put ours on when the work is done.

Frequently asked questions