Last update: 11 August 2023

If your employees are exposed to dangerous UV radiation, they run the risk of damaging their eyes. Just a few seconds of bright UV light can have very painful consequences. Arc eye is one of the most common occupational injuries caused by UV radiation. You may be familiar with this condition, also known as snow blindness or photokeratitis. Fortunately, appropriate face protection can prevent many problems.

You can read all about how to recognise, prevent and treat arc eye in this article.

What causes arc eye?

Arc eye is caused by exposing the eyes to UV radiation for too long.
The radiation burns the eye’s cornea. This is the part through which light enters the eye.
The cornea is sensitive and easily damaged.

UV radiation occurs naturally in the form of sunlight. However, radiation also occurs during certain welding processes, such as tig or plasma welding.
So this type of occupational injury is common among welders.

UV radiation is divided into 3 types: UV-A, UV-B and UV-C:

• UV-A has the greatest impact on the eyes
• UV-B is most active during peak hours
• UV-C is blocked by the atmosphere.

Symptoms of arc eye

It’s important to recognize arc eye, in order to receive treatment to prevent the condition from worsening.
At first, you may not notice or feel anything.
The first symptoms do not appear until several hours after welding.

The main symptoms of arc eye are:

• A sharp, burning pain in the eyes, especially in the evening and at night.
• Red and swollen eyes that feel like sandpaper.
• Difficulty in opening your eyes
• Possibly a headache

Treating arc eye

Are you experiencing arc eye?

• In the first instance, visit your family doctor or company doctor for a diagnosis. They will check for any metal splinters or other damage to your eyes, and may prescribe anaesthetic eye drops to briefly numb the cornea.
• You can relieve the pain yourself by applying cold wet compresses to the eyes. Never use a general home remedy such as a potato
• It is advisable to avoid contact lenses temporarily to speed up the healing process.

Luckily, arc eye symptoms soon disappear, and the pain usually goes within a week.

How to prevent arc eye?

Prevention is better than cure: the same goes for arc eye. But how?

• The most important thing is to avoid eye contact with UV radiation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Once you have been in contact with UV radiation for too long, it's already too late.                                                                                                                                                                                              This is why it's very important to always wear the correct face protection.

• Unfortunately, many welders underestimate the risk. They think “this job won't take long” or “I'll look away...”.By then, it's usually too late.

• It's not only the person welding who is at high risk without face protection. Onlookers can also be affected.

Protect and shield

To prevent arc eye, you need to tackle its source.

Provide a screened area or cabin where your employees can weld. This will protect those who are not welding against contracting arc eye.

You could also use welding curtains.

The correct protection against harmful light

The best personal protective equipment (PPE) for the eyes consists of a welding shield, welding helmet or welding glasses. These will filter the radiation (light) and protect the eyes against harmful light.

Welding shields

A welding shield is an inexpensive way to protect yourself against harmful UV radiation.

There are also hand-held welding shields available. These are useful if you only need to use one hand during the welding operation.

There are also welding shields that you can attach to your head which flip up and down easily to allow you to check your work.

View all welding shields

Automatic welding helmets

Besides welding shields, you also have the option of automatic welding helmets.

These welding helmets automatically adjust the viewing filter according to the conditions. The viewing filter darkens when the light intensifies, and lightens in constant light.

The advantage of electronic welding protection is that you don’t need to take any action yourself. Compare this with, for example, a welding shield that needs to be held. Moreover, respiratory protection can also be connected so that you are constantly supplied with fresh air.

View all automatic welding shields

Welding glasses

In situations in which only a few sparks are produced, welding glasses are sufficient. These will comply with the EN 169 safety standard.

Welding glasses have shades between 1.2 and 16, depending on the welding operation.

There are also safety glasses fitted with green or grey welding lenses. These protect against UV, visible and IR light.

View all welding glasses

Other forms of protection against UV radiation

For protection against UV radiation, you need safety glasses with lenses marked 2-X, 2C-X or 3-X.
X represents the shade degree of your lens.
The value ranges between 1.2 and 5. The higher this value, the greater the protection

Tip: Transparent safety glasses can also filter UV radiation.

To protect against sunlight, you need glasses marked 5-X or 6-X.
The X ranges from 1.1 to 4.1.
These safety glasses comply with the EN 172 standard.

Again, the same principle applies: the higher the value, the greater the protection.

Protection for welding assistants

Even if your colleagues do not themselves weld but are standing nearby, they must also protect their eyes against harmful radiation.

Welding assistants usually wear safety glasses with a welding lens marked 1.2 or 4.

What if someone is standing closer than or at the same distance as the welder?
Or did the risk analysis indicate that s/he could be affected?
If this is the case, choose lenses with a higher shade number.

Note: Lenses that are too dark are not suitable, and may even be dangerous.
The welder would need to be too close to the work in order to see it properly. The risk of inhaling hazardous welding fumes creates a high risk in this situation.

When to use a welding lens?

• Oxyacetylene or plasma cutting: in principle, you only need shade 5 glasses for these operations. For example the 3M Securefit 500.
• MIG/MAG welding: because of the UV radiation released, it is important to wear a welding helmet or hood.
  Shades 9, 10 or 11 are ideally suited for this. These welding lenses are available for hand-held and automatic welding helmets.
• TIG or electrode welding: Choose the darkest lens shade possible for the welding helmet, for example shade 13.
  A number of automatic welding helmets have been made specially for the TIG process, such as the Speedglas 9100 or the automatic welding helmet from the G5-01 series.

Conclusion

Always wear appropriate protection when working with harmful radiation. Even if you’re only an onlooker and not carrying out any welding yourself. It only takes a very short period of exposure for the eyes to suffer from arc eye, which will cause a lot of pain.

If your work involves a lot of electrical welding, then an automatic welding helmet is the best option.
This helmet automatically adjusts the welding shade, and can be combined with a powered air supply.

What if you’re on a tight budget? Then use a welding shield or welding goggles (that is, if your welding process produces only a few sparks).