Look at the inside of the temple arm on your safety glasses. Somewhere on that narrow strip is a manufacturer's mark and a short string of letters and numbers. It is not a model number. It is a hazard map.
The code comes from ANSI/ISEA Z87.1, the American National Standard for occupational eye and face protection. The International Safety Equipment Association and The Vision Council published a new edition in January 2026 — the sixth revision, and the first since 2020. Much of the work went into making those markings clearer and more consistent.
Here is what they say. Z87 by itself means basic impact: the lens survived a one-inch steel ball dropped from 50 inches. Z87+ means high impact, a much harder test in which a quarter-inch steel ball is fired at the eyewear at 150 feet per second, roughly 102 miles an hour, at 20 separate points. D3 means the protector is rated for splashes and droplets, D4 for dust, D5 for fine dust. A U, R, or L followed by a number rates the lens against ultraviolet, infrared, or visible light. X means anti-fog.
Glasses made to earlier editions of the standard are still acceptable under OSHA rules. But one detail catches people out: for a high-impact rating, the frame has to carry the mark too, not just the lens. High-impact lenses dropped into an unrated frame are not rated eyewear.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
