ADVANCED, DUAL CHANNEL, PROTECTIVE CAP PEAK MOUNT FACESHIELDS CAN PREVENT EYE INJURIES

When combining a faceshield with a protective cap it is usually better to wear the cap in the reverse position so that the faceshield is positioned as close to the wearers face and eyes as possible. But for some applications it is necessary to mount the faceshield on the peak of the cap to get a better seal from dust, dirt, sparks and debris.

Most face and eye injuries today are not high impact, blow back injuries where a flying object blasts right through a faceshield. The highest frequency of face and eye injuries are caused by high volume small objects filtering through the faceshield deflector/window seal, or between the faceshield crown and a protective cap worn in the reverse position. A peak mount faceshield can protect from those types of hazards.

But not all peak mount faceshields are the same. Early single channel models and a lot of poorly designed models today do not provide the degree and type of protection required. The Fibre-Metal Products Company, now a Honeywell Safety brand, pioneered a dual channel design, with a unique Channel Grip method of attaching a faceshield window in conjunction with a large northeast shipyard that was having heavy eye injuries in their hull grinding operation.

At the time, most, if not all, faceshield windows were attached to the deflector with snaps. No matter how many snaps were used or how heavy duty the snaps, they did not seal the window to the deflector and there were gaps between the snaps where debris from the high speed grinding operation filtered in. The Fibre-Metal sales and engineering team, working with the shipyards safety team, came up with a unique way to mount a window that did not involve snaps and created a leak proof seal between the window and the deflector.

The unique window mounting design stopped dust, dirt, sparks and debris from filtering between the window and the deflector but there was also another problem. When the faceshields were lifted to an overhead rest position, debris that had accumulated on the deflector was dumped into the wearers face and eyes. To protect from that, Fibre-Metal and the shipyard came up with a dual-channel design .

The base channel, designed to the exact curvature of a protective caps peak, forms a perfect seal with the peak and is anchored securely in place by a strong, resilient band. The upper channel can be easily and smoothly moved to a rest position and held there by a self locking friction joint. If any debris is dumped off in the process, it is blocked by the base channel. When the upper channel is returned to the work position, it snaps and locks firmly to the base channel for an extra margin of protection.

The Fibre-Metal brand by Honeywell provides a fully dielectric model molded from NORYL, the same material as their top selling TIGERHOOD welding helmets, which allows it to be used in a wide range of applications where faceshields made from lesser materials would fail. They also provide a rugged, lightweight aluminum model for extreme jobsite environments. The most common applications for this type of faceshield are heavy duty grinding, machining, finishing operations in steel mills, fabricating shops, and similar operations.

In addition to the two cap mount dual channel models, Fibre-Metal by Honeywell also provides a model for full brim protective hats.

This style is popular with construction workers, especially road crews who use jack hammers, cut rebar and guard rails along with many other operations that produce high volume dirt, dust, sparks and debris.

If you are providing face protection for mounting on head protection, and you are still experiencing a high frequency of eye injuries, perhaps you could benefit from an advanced dual channel Channel Grip, peak mounting faceshield system.  If you decide to use that style of faceshield, look at as many brands as you can. Compare them with the Fibre-Metal brand by Honeywell. If another brand better satisfies your needs, use it. But from our experience, the unique design and high quality of the Fibre-Metal by Honeywell dual channel peak mount faceshields make them a good choice.

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This blog post is for information only. It is not an endorsement of any product for any purpose. The information provided is the opinion and experience of the writer and is the latest and best information available at the time of posting. The selection of any PPE product for any purpose is the sole responsibility of on site, competent safety officials. All information presented here should be verified by the manufacturer as part of the evaluation process. Failure to do so could result in injury or death.