See the real cost

The results of new tests conducted by safety equipment provider uvex show that in the majority of cases, if an organisation buys cheap safety spectacles costing around £2 per pair rather than superior quality ones for £6 each, they will be likely to end up paying double over the course of a year to protect their employees' eyes.

The real cost of protective eyewear is its cost over its entire life span. In uvex's tests on the durability of the lens coatings, their own and other manufacturers' safety spectacles were repeatedly washed to see how quickly their anti-fog coating deteriorated.

The tests revealed that, assuming two washes per week through 44 weeks per year, users of the £2 spectacles would go through 22 pairs a year, costing an average £44 per person, while those using spectacles costing £6 per pair would only need 3.6 pairs in a year because the anti-fog coating lasts up to and beyond 12 weeks, a total cost of £21.60 per person per year.