What safety equipment is essential when working with pipes under pressure?

When working with pipes under pressure, wearing safety glasses is essential due to the potential for hazardous materials or media to escape from the pipes under high pressure. If a pipe bursts or leaks while under pressure, the resultant spray or mist can contain harmful chemicals, debris, or even hot fluids, which can pose a serious risk to the eyes. Safety glasses provide a crucial barrier that protects the eyes from such dangerous exposures, helping to prevent injuries that could result in loss of vision or other serious eye damage.

While gloves, ear protection, and hard hats each play important roles in overall safety, they do not specifically address the immediate risks associated with pressurized pipes in the same way that safety glasses do. Gloves protect the hands from cuts or chemicals, ear protection is essential in noisy environments, and hard hats guard against head injuries from falling objects. However, in the context of mitigating the specific hazards posed by pressurized systems, safety glasses are of highest priority to protect one of the most vulnerable areas, the eyes.