By gman
Date 10-24-2001 14:36
There is no proof about the contact lens melting theory. This is a link to an AWS fact sheet that addresses that issue: http://www.aws.org/technical/FACT-PDF.EXE/FACT-12.PDF
Besides that, no one should stare at a welding arc for any amount of time. Even beyond the distances we’re trying to establish. Employees in a work area 50 feet or closer must be protected with either a shield used by the welder or with appropriate eye protection per OSHA standards, regardless of whether they wear contact lenses.
The "Safety and Health of Welders" book from the Hobart School of Welding Technology has the following passage.
"The wearing of contact lenses by welders is the subject of erroneous and recurring rumors. Various authorities including the National Society to Prevent Blindness, the Contact Lens Association of Opthalmologists, and others state that the normal eye protection required by OSHA for welding, brazing and soldering is the same with or without contacts. The American Optometric Association adopted a policy statement saying that contact lenses may be worn in hazardous environments with appropriate normal safety eye wear. Cantact lenses of themselves do not provide eye protection in the industrial sense. As a general rule, if an employee habitually wears contact lenses, they should be allowed to wear thier lenses in addition to normal safey equipment. It was further noted that the heat from a welding arc or flash is not intense enough to affect the durable plastic from which contact lenses are made. Welders or anyone who may be exposed to a welding flash or arc should wear appropreate safety goggles over thier contact lenses. Eye experts unanimously agree that it is impossible for an electric arc to weld contact lenses to the eye. The American Optometric Association says that reports of this hazard are based on rumor and have been thoroughly discredited. Both OSHA and U.S. FDA stated that the reports of this acciden were false and there is no such danger."
It doesn't mention anything about safe distances for bystanders though.
G Roberts