At the month-end walkthrough, EHS veteran Old Zhou took the new shift leader around the workshop. The young man at the grinding wheel was fully kitted out: a CKT-NTB-2 helmet with the chin strap buckled, face shield down, goggles on underneath, cut-resistant gloves, long-sleeved workwear and safety shoes — nothing missing. Old Zhou did not praise him. He asked one question: "That pair of goggles — can you read the markings on the frame?"

The shift leader leaned in and looked for a long while, then shook his head. The lettering had worn away long ago.

Whether PPE is on the body is obvious at a glance. Whether it is compliant takes knowing how to read it. Four questions are enough to expose the "bare-eye" work hiding in a workshop.

Background: eye and face protection stopped being a "recommendation" long ago

GB 14866-2023, the General Technical Specification for Eye and Face Protectors, took effect on 1 January 2025. It is mandatory, replaces GB 14866-2006 and GB/T 32166.1-2016, and is administered by the Ministry of Emergency Management. Welding runs on a separate track: GB 3609.1—2025, Eye and Face Protection — Welding Protection — Part 1: Welding Protectors, takes effect on 1 September 2026 and replaces GB/T 3609.1—2008. Note that the new number carries no "/T" — it is mandatory as well.

Article 45 of the Work Safety Law requires employers to supply PPE meeting national standards and to supervise and train workers in wearing and using it correctly; Article 57 requires workers to wear and use it properly. The legal chain runs from procurement all the way to the moment the equipment goes on the body.

Question one: can you read the markings on the frame?

GB 14866-2023 breaks the marking into four ordered segments: the base marking "GB14866"; the size designation (small, medium and large, shown as S, M and L); the driving and traffic-signal recognition marking "驾"; and the high-speed particle impact marking "+". The standard's own examples: GB14866S for small; GB14866 M 驾 for medium and suitable for driving; GB14866L+ for large with high-speed particle impact protection.

Clause 9.2 requires the marking to be permanent — it must not become unreadable through detachment, corrosion or wear. Turn the goggles over: is that string of characters still there? Once it is worn away, nobody can tell which class the product was ever built to.

At welding stations the question changes: with newly purchased welding protectors, look for GB 3609.1—2025 and check that the correspondence between shade number and visible-light transmittance is clearly stated and traceable on the packaging.

Question two: is the circle at the centre of the lens still clean?

Within a circular area of 30 mm radius centred on the reference point there must be no surface defect that could impair vision — bubbles, scratches, mould spots, indentations and cracks all count (clause 8.6). Clause 7.1 requires that clear lenses without filtering effect transmit at least 85% of visible light at the reference point. A lens that has yellowed and dimmed loses transmittance first; the eye strains, and judgement of where fragments will fly is already distorted.

Two moves to check it: hold it up to a light source and rotate it, then re-read the frame marking. If there is a scratch or a mould spot inside that coin-sized area, replace the unit. Goggles are consumables — do not treat them as fixed assets.

Question three: does this job need one layer or two?

Clause 8.3 divides high-speed particle impact into three speed classes. Low speed, 45 m/s: spectacles, eye shields and face shields can all qualify. Medium speed, 80 m/s: only eye shields and face shields. High speed, 120 m/s: only face shields. The basic impact protection of clause 8.2 is the minimum threshold for every product — there is no negotiating it.

But those three classes describe how much impact a product takes head-on. At a grinding station, more than half of the fragments that injure eyes do not arrive head-on. They bounce off the workpiece or the fixture, come in at random angles at undiminished speed, and go looking for the gap under the lower edge of the face shield or along the sides. A face shield covers broad frontal impact across the whole face; goggles and eye shields seal tightly around the eye socket. Each covers its own zone — it is not either/or.

The answer is therefore blunt: for grinding, cutting and angle-grinder work, one layer is not enough. The two-layer configuration belongs in that job's PPE list.

Question four: is the job's kit complete?

This question asks about the full set, not a single item.

Grinding area: helmet, face shield, goggles, cut-resistant gloves, long-sleeved workwear and safety shoes — six items, none optional. Welding area: welding helmet or face shield, welding-specific gloves, flame-retardant workwear, safety shoes. At chemical baths: helmet, a full-face respirator or enclosed eye shield interlocked with respiratory protection, chemical-resistant gloves, protective clothing and chemical-resistant boots.

Selection is grounded in GB 39800.1-2020, the Specification for the Provision of Personal Protective Equipment — Part 1: General (mandatory, effective 1 January 2022): identify the hazard first, then select the equipment, then trace it back to its source, then judge whether it must be retired and replaced. Emergency equipment carries hard numbers too — GB/T 38144.1-2019 requires eyewash units to deliver at least 1.5 L/min, eye/face wash units at least 11.4 L/min and emergency showers at least 76 L/min; Chapter 7 of GB/T 38144.2-2019 requires the valve to open within 1 second of being found and flushing to last at least 15 minutes.

Pitfall one: treating "issued" as "properly in place"

The excuse heard most often during self-inspection is "this station has a face shield." The ledger carries a signature; the storeroom carries stock. Yet on the floor the worker is wearing ordinary dust spectacles at the grinding position — which is wrong. Issuing is a procurement action; being in place is a shop-floor action. The correct practice is for the shift leader to check each workstation once per shift and make up any missing item before work starts.

Pitfall two: assuming "one pair of goggles is enough for the grinding station"

Some people believe the answer to eye and face protection is a single pair of goggles — which is wrong. Goggles stop particles arriving straight on; a face shield stops fragments coming in at a wide angle; a helmet protects what falls from above. Miss one and you leave one gap. The correct practice is to complete the set as in question four, rather than picking one item and calling it done.

Pitfall three: assuming helpers and passers-by are not "workers"

Welding helpers, the people handing over material or clearing swarf, and anyone walking past the welding area — many of them spend years beside an arc with bare eyes and, because nothing has happened yet, assume nothing will. That is wrong. Annex G of GB 3609.1—2025 states that helpers may use products with shade numbers from 1.2 to 4; when they stand as close to the arc as the welder they should use the same shade number; and people passing through or briefly stopping should also be protected. The correct practice is to include these people in the issue list (for specific shade selection, follow the standard text).

What an enterprise can do right now

1. Print the four questions on one sheet: can the marking be read; is the centre 30 mm of the lens clean; does the job need one layer or two; is the full set complete. The shift leader walks the line once a month and signs it.

2. Count the spares cabinet: goggles, face shields, helmet liners and filter cartridges — keep one brand-new spare of each.

3. Write three things into procurement acceptance: the standard number (GB 14866-2023 for eye and face protection, GB 3609.1—2025 for welding protection), the impact class and the size designation. Anything without a "+" in its marking should not be issued beside a grinding wheel.

4. Post a prohibited-use list: worn-off markings; scratches or mould inside the centre 30 mm of the lens; only one layer worn at a grinding station; helpers standing bare-eyed beside an arc. Correct each on sight.

Finally

Month-end self-inspection is not about filling in forms. It is about closing the gaps before the next shift starts. Run the four questions and the "bare-eye" work surfaces by itself — some of it missing at the lens, some at the marking, some at that second layer.

At your workshop last month, which of the four questions tripped up the most people? Tell us in the comments.

Chengkai's eye and face protection range can be configured by job: goggles CKY-135FW, face shields CKL-3117, helmets CKT-NTB-2 and cut-resistant gloves CKS-CUTRE-PU. Talk to us if you need a list built around your scenarios.

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This article is compiled from GB 14866-2023, GB 3609.1—2025, GB 39800.1-2020, the GB/T 38144 series and the Work Safety Law of the People's Republic of China. For implementation, follow the standard texts and product markings.