Why welding damages your eyesight
During operation, welding emits infrared, ultraviolet and light rays. The principle is that the higher the current, the stronger the radiation. When working with alternating current, you get less harm than with direct current, because the radiation intensity is less.
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Consequences after work
The light spectrum brightness that is visible reaches 15,000 cd/cm^2, this is more than the permissible dose for humans.
Important! The most dangerous are electrodes in carbon dioxide; tungsten electrodes in argon are less dangerous.
Welding has a detrimental effect on vision; if you look at welding without the necessary protection, you can get photokeratitis or burns to the skin and exposed parts of the body.
Photokeratitis is a burn of the cornea of the eye. Accompanied by the following symptoms: redness, sensation of a foreign body, pain, difficulty lifting the eyelids. Symptoms appear within 6-12 hours. The symptoms go away on their own after 3 days. You should consult your doctor to write out a prescription for the drops. Also, weakly brewed tea leaves help relieve symptoms; you need to moisten a cotton swab and place it on your eyes. Cut potatoes and cold compresses help a lot.
Prolonged exposure to infrared rays on the cornea of the eye can lead to cataracts. Cataract is clouding of the lens. It can happen in one eye or in both eyes at once. In the profession, this disease is quite rare.
The effect of welding will be painless if you are at a distance of 1 meter 15 seconds and 10 meters 25 minutes from hose welding in carbon dioxide.
Safety measures, how to choose the right protective mask
There are 2 ways to protect your eyes:
- Glasses. Chameleon glasses are necessary to protect your eyes from bright light and radiation, from flying debris, including metal. The advantages of this method of protection: it does not compress the head, they are light in weight, they are ventilated, and the light filter darkens the glass on its own.
- Masks. There are:
- Regular.
- Chameleon.
Regular masks are one shade, but the chameleon has light filters and darkens the glass automatically as needed. Masks have the following advantages: good visibility, lightweight, complete eye protection from all kinds of debris and radiation.
When working in open areas, it is necessary to install special shields that do not transmit radiation that affects at a distance of up to 30 meters.
