Police Scotland Recruitment 2019 1 2 3 4 51

[AdamL 14]

Query time (and I appreciate it could be the most basic answer I'm actually looking for)...

 

I'm due to start in May and due to my eyesight have to wear glasses for everyday use - I've been informed by occu health that I must have a second pair of specs with me at all times incase the ones I'm wearing break/get lost etc...

Now for the glasses wearers out there (and if you've been told the same as me), do you physically carry the second pair on your persons on the job? Or do you leave the spare pair in your car (personal car or work one) or even at the office?

 

Reason I ask is: if you carry the spare pair on your persons, surely you're just wasting a pocket/pouch on your vest or at least isn't the case getting in the way?

 

How do you go about it?

Btw I'll be in the BTP (and the office isn't far from the platforms, and I can see without my specs - just objects at a distance are a bit fuzzy)

 

Thanks

[Cs! + 88]

I keep a spare pair in my locker 

[Beaker 690]

I leave my normal day wear glasses in my duty bag, and wear a pair thst cost me £25 on my face.

[Phil + 33]

I carry my spare set in my day bag which I take to work each day and then leave in the locker room.

In nearly 10 years I’ve broken three pairs and only one of those was broken beyond use. If you’re BTP then maybe put your spare set in your kit bag if your posted to a response vehicle

[AdamL 14]

Cheers for the replies chaps - thought it'd be a bit odd to a) use up vest space and b) actually have to carry them on you at all times ...

In my 9 years of wearing specs I've only ever had one broken pair - and that was the missus parking her backside on them when they were on the couch lol
And similarly I buy cheap - the pair on my face now were no more than £30 and I ordered my spare pair tonight for £15 delivered thanks to a deal on SpeckyFourEyes

Looks like the locker or my kit bag will be where they'll live (I don't believe they even have a vehicle at the station - little Welsh valley station)

[Mazza + 634]

I have never been told by occy health that I need to carry a spare pair [emoji23] how odd. I keep contacts in my desk just in case.

[AdamL 14]

I have never been told by occy health that I need to carry a spare pair [emoji23] how odd. I keep contacts in my desk just in case.

Mazza, my unaided eyesight is barely at the minimum required due to a degenerative eye condition that I have (only affecting one eye anyway), and I actually failed the initial medical on the eyesight test for that eye as it had only been a few weeks since I had surgery to prevent further sight loss - I simply didn't leave it long enough for healing.
So when I was initially failed, I challenged the decision due to the eye clearly not being as healed as I believed it was - they offered me a second chance at my own expense provided 12 weeks had elapsed from surgery and I passed.

Think they just want to cover themselves H&S wise should my worn pair get lost/damaged as at that point I'd essentially be a pirate

[Ironic + 44]

I have to wear a pair of glasses in order to be able to drive on blues or regular driving. This was not something that was brought up in my medical however upon initial training, and I was never told that I was required to carry a second pair either by occu health. Obviously I do have a second pair. 

It is not reasonable to be expected to carry a second pair on your person at all times. I can understand if they meant in your kit bag or something which might be in your vehicle or at the station... but what if you had a roll around and both pairs were damaged? then you are in a bit of a pickle.

I would just keep the glasses in your kit bag, I doubt they will make a fuss about it if there is a X minute delay in you grabbing the second pair from your bag.

[Antowen 0]

Just mak esur eyou have a spare pair in your bag, or locker in case you need them to get home. 

Also apply for force issue specs, these have to be replaced by the job if the get broken (not the case with privately owned glasses as I found out to my cost once. They don't look too bad now either.). They also have to offer you a free eye test at least every 2 or 3 years which is well worth it. 

[Richhamdo + 813]

Yes, you would think anyone who wears glasses at work would have a spare pair of some description if they broke. I was with a regular in the big van one friday night in the eighties sometime. He wore glasses for driving and about midnight he sat on them and they wouldn't mend. Dont ask me why he put them on the drivers seat but he did. Maybe it was so they wouldn't get knocked off and scratched while we dealt with some trouble maker or whatever. Then when he got back in the van that was it, crunch. 

Murphy’s law being what it is he didn't have a spare pair with him, not in his car, bag or locker, and i don't think anyone else did. It was a funny old night, and i wont go into it, [mums the word]. But it just goes to show that you might go years without breaking/losing  your one set  then it all goes pear shaped. I still remember this regular, he was the most laid back, happy guy you could ever wish to meet, nothing seemed to bother him. Rich.

[MajorDisaster + 566]

I wear glasses and there is no formal requirement for a second pair, but through a new scheme at work I got a free eye test and a work pair - industry standard plastic lenses (made to my full varifocal prescription but without the fancy coatings my personal ones have) and plastic side shields (which I have removed as they impeded my peripheral vision) and I wear these on duty.  They stay in  my locker and I swap over at the start and end of my shift.  I also keep my last pair in my car for emergencies.  IT might be worth asking your OH dept if a similar scheme exists.  I've never suffered glasses damage in a scrap but at least if I do now it is company property and not mine.