It's not an option, if you're in the shop, you have on glasses. PERIOD.
Some people like to think that the welding helmet is good enough, but your post shows two good reasons that a hood is not enough. Lift your hood and you have no protection, or the occasional spark that makes its way onto your face. It's too risky to allow this to not be required. Sure in the hot months it's a pain to have sweat in your face from the glasses, but at least you can see it!
We have even taken it one step further and required anybody using a 4" and larger grinder or a carbide burr air grinder to wear a full face shield. This reduced our "stuff in the eye" incidences from a few per week to a few per year.
Nothing at all wrong with saying safety glasses with side shields (compliant with Z87) *Shall* be worn at all times, including under the welding hood.
Here is the link to ANSI Z49.1 Safety in Welding Cutting and Allied Processes... It used to cost $90 a pop and now AWS allows free usage and printing.
http://files.aws.org/technical/facts/Z49.1-2005-all.pdfLook at both 4.2.1.1 and the explaination on the opposite side of the page E4.2.1.1
I'm sure your company insurance carrier would back the requirement to have those safety glasses on at all times.... They would prolly have a fit if they knew welders were working without safety glasses under their hoods.
Even slagless processes like GMAW will leave those little silica islands on the top of the welds and you just know they are going to pop off as soon as you bring your face close enough to have a good look.... Those babies are glass and will cut...
Our company requires safety glasses everywhere but in the office or similar areas. Double eye protection is required for welding, grinding, burning and operating machinery such as saws or punches. (Welding hoods count as a 2nd layer).
Double eye protection to us means safety glasses with a face shield, welding hood, burning goggles, or clear goggles over them.
We require that portable screens be put up around the work area to contain sparks and etc. We don't have to surround the work zone but we do have to place the screens to minimize the hazard to others.
A while back we had a bit of an issue with foreign objects in the eye (no major injuries but the clinic had to remove the objects). People were getting lax in spite of reminders. Those folks claimed the object got past the spaces around the glasses and face shields.
The "solution" was mandatory use of goggles 100% of the time in production areas, for everyone. No one liked goggles - hot, sweaty, limited visibility, etc- but we had to use them. It seemed extreme but those were the "sandbox rules" and the company footed the costs.
After a while the company relaxed a bit and has had no major problems since then.
One thing we do that we feel is very important - if anyone gets anything in the eye, we take them immediately to a local eye clinic. By doing that, we avoid a recordable and the person does not suffer. No harm, no foul on the worker's part, and nothing is held against the person for getting their eyes checked out.
Objects in the eye usually become recordables when the person discovers in the middle of the night that mayble he/she didn't quite get everything out. That leads to medicine, eye patches and a lot of discomfort to the worker. We try to eliminate that risk by getting a professional to look at the eye before it goes that far.
Having worn glasses since I was 7 years old, I can't imagine not using safety glasses. Mine have saved my eyesight on at least 2 occasions - one of which was in an office. A heavy duty stapler handle broke, the stapler self destructed and my right lens got centered by a square piece. The impact slapped me hard and after I got all the grease of my face, I found I had a cut in the polycarbonate lens halfway through the thickness. I have no doubt I would have lost my right eye were it not for the glasses.
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