ANSI Z87.1 is the U.S. consensus standard that sets design, testing, and marking requirements for occupational eye and face protection.
The American National Standard for occupational and educational eye and face protection, published by the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA). It establishes design, performance, testing, and marking requirements for devices such as safety glasses, goggles, face shields, and welding helmets. OSHA's eye and face protection standard (29 CFR 1910.133) requires protective eyewear to comply with ANSI Z87.1.
A manufacturing plant replaces its stock of generic safety glasses with eyewear stamped "Z87+" after a hazard assessment identifies flying particles from grinding operations as a high-impact risk.
A "Z87" marking indicates the device meets the standard's basic impact requirements, while "Z87+" indicates it passed the more demanding high-impact testing — the appropriate choice where flying objects or particles are a hazard.
No, ordinary prescription eyewear is not designed or tested to the standard. Workers who need vision correction can use prescription safety glasses marked to the standard, or protective eyewear designed to fit over their regular glasses.
Additional markings identify protection against specific hazards, such as splash or droplets, dust, welding radiation shade numbers, and ultraviolet or infrared filtering, helping employers match eyewear to the hazards found in their assessment.
Part of SafetyIQ's EHS glossary: plain-English definitions of workplace health and safety terms.
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