Face Shield/ Ear Muff Combo

[Kidbee]

For a High School situation we are seeking to buy a number of the above. They need to be of reasonable quality to stand the wear and tear of a Manual Arts Dept.

In the past we have had several brands. The Protector brand ones were a bit cheap and ordinary to wear and we tried two other brands that were comfortable, but had trouble with the ear muff holders breaking off from the plastic headband.

Any suggestions?

[Lappa]

These are just glasses and ear muffs combined, not a full face mask. I use them and rhey are comfortable and work well

https://www.highrisksafety.com.au/sh...-EyeMuffs.html

[BobL]

If you do a search for "face shield with ear muffs" and look at the images you will plenty of offerings.

Its unlikely you will find the best shield in combination with the best muffs, and as you say then there is the connection between the two to consider.

Remember the better shields are curved in 2 dimensions left to right and up and down and are called 3D shields.
The Old school yellow Protector ones are only curved in one direction so are not as good.

Something like this might work for you $64
https://combinedsafetysolutions.com....ffs-clearmesh/
BGVCEADD-500x500.jpg
I have not used their muffs but the shield is a one I am familiar with and being slightly curved in the vertical is quite good. I used several of them for about 5 years until I switched to the even more curved Armadillo. The muffs are 32dB rated so that would be fine for Manual arts classes.

Amongst the better muffs are the Peltor Brand and while they are often paired with hard-hats and mesh safety visors for chainsaw use I have not seen a Peltor muffed Full Face shield.

I had another look and here we go
https://www.rsea.com.au/ppe/head-fac...00V5F11H510-GU

muffsheild3M.jpg
$112 a pop though, so twice as much as the one above.

[Kidbee]

3M is a good brand, and at that price, maybe a contender for the teachers and myself to use on the table saw.

I do not like ear muffs that cut out the sound of the saw running, but they probably don’t do that.

I had Googled the Pro Choice Adder myself and yes they look okay and the cost is probably acceptable.

[BobL]

I do not like ear muffs that cut out the sound of the saw running, but they probably don’t do that.

I agree with this about any tool/machine and that is one problem with the Peltor H10s because they are so effective. One time I nearly stripped the skin off my hands on a drill press because of this. These days I take that into account when I use the H10s.

BTW the 3M™ Headgear G500 is priced at $97 if you buy 10 or more from Blackwoods.
The er muff attachment mechanism looks very sturdy in teh photo

The Peltor Optime I muff on the Headgear combo is a 27dB reduction muff which should be OK for woodwork and probably most of what they do in metal work. I dunno what kids use these days in schools.

[FenceFurniture]

The Peltor Optime I muff on the Headgear combo is a 27dB reduction muff which should be OK for woodwork and probably most of what they do in metal work. I dunno what kids use these days in schools.

I'm reading that as 22dB reduction, which is pretty tame IMO (more like Line Trimmer standard):

H9 ear muff - AS/NZS 1270 SLC80 22 dB Class4

[BobL]

I'm reading that as 22dB reduction, which is pretty tame IMO (more like Line Trimmer standard):

H9 ear muff - AS/NZS 1270 SLC80 22 dB Class4

yep won't be enough for something like an angle grinder.

Interestingly in this document the Optime 1 attached to a helmet is classed as 26dB reduction.
http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/7...on-low-pdf.pdf

And in this one it's 24dB
https://www.awsi.com.au/3m-peltor-h9...-class-4-h9p3g

It has to do with the amount of side pressure that can be generated with the specific headwear in use.
That's why I wear independent muffs and face shield.

[ian]

3M is a good brand, and at that price, maybe a contender for the teachers and myself to use on the table saw.

I do not like ear muffs that cut out the sound of the saw running, but they probably don’t do that.

I had Googled the Pro Choice Adder myself and yes they look okay and the cost is probably acceptable.

given that the use is for a school where a different kid will be using the shields / muffs every lesson -- that is unless you are going to issue individual PPE to each kid, my suggestion is that you separate the shields from the muffs. That way there should be less issues with sizes.

Hygiene wise, if the muffs are going to be used by different kids, they should be cleaned between uses. In practice it's probably most cost effective to issue each kid with a pair of disposable ear plugs at the start of each lesson.


Edit:
Because it's for a school, the PPE is probably GST free. Given the quantity you are buying, it will pay to check.

[Kidbee]

Yes GST gets claimed back. The ear muffs we have are fixed and do not swivel around which makes them pretty well impossible to wear with a normal helmet, due to the headband arrangement.

There are angle grinders in the Engineering building and the noisiest machines in the Woodwork building would be the Jet thicknesser and Routers.

When you have a face shield/ear muff combo, you at least know that the students are wearing both.