A friend of mine recently noted that if you search for "spoggles" on Google, my blog post from April 23, 2013 was one of the first things to pop up. This was a very exciting thing - I thought I would test it out today.
Imagine my surprise when a FlexiCrew blog post from August 27, 2013 popped up as the first item on Google.
Me: "Dang, I'm not the first one anymore! Let's see what they have to say. I'll bet mine is better! Mine has cartoons!"
I clicked on their post and immediately realized most of the post was very familiar, because I wrote it last year. I almost always cite my sources or link to original works when "borrowing" material from other blogs or websites. I guess it's silly of me to expect the same effort from other bloggers.
See below for the most obvious examples.
Theirs: So, for those of you not in the environmental health and safety field, Spoggles is an industry term for safety eyewear designed to prevent airborne dust and debris from getting in our eyeballs. Airborne dust and debris is a leading cause of eye injuries in today’s workplaces. Spoggles = Safety + Goggles, with a random “p” thrown in there since “sgoggles” or “sagoggles” or “safoggles” sound even weirder."
Mine: So, for those of you not in the environmental health and safety field [...] Spoggles is an industry term for safety eyewear designed to prevent airborne dust and debris from getting in our eyeballs. Airborne dust and debris is a leading cause of eye injuries in today's workplaces. Spoggles = Safety + Goggles, with a random "p" thrown in there since "sgoggles" or "sagoggles" or "safoggles" sound even weirder.
And it continues...
Theirs: The glasses/goggles are supposed to seal up against your face (via the foam inserts at the interior edges of the lenses), and keep dust out of your eyes. There are potential issues with spoggles, and reasons why people sometimes choose not to wear their personal protective equipment (PPE) when doing work in a dusty environment:
- the glasses fog up
- the glasses can get scratched so it is hard to see
- the foam can get “smushed” (technical term) and be less effective
- when you take off your glasses, the dust that was at the top and sides/edges of the glasses (and in your eyebrows) can fall right into your eye anyway
- some people think they look nerdy (also a technical term)
- the earpieces can irritate the heck out of the back of your ears
Mine: The glasses/goggles are supposed to seal up against your face (via the foam inserts at the interior edges of the lenses), and keep dust out of your eyes. There are potential issues with spoggles, and reasons why people sometimes choose not to wear their personal protective equipment (PPE) when doing work in a dusty environment:
- the glasses fog up
- the glasses can get scratched so it is hard to see
- the foam can get “smushed” (technical term) and be less effective
- when you take off your glasses, the dust that was at the top and sides/edges of the glasses (and in your eyebrows) can fall right into your eye anyway
- some people think they look nerdy (also a technical term)
- the earpieces can irritate the heck out of the back of your ears
And then both blog posts end almost the same way.
Theirs: But looking nerdy and having to take care of your PPE and using good personal hygiene while at work are a small price to pay compared to losing your eyesight or getting a nasty infection in your eye from contaminated dust. So our Flexpert’s advice – Keep a supply of spoggles on hand. With some lanyards. And some no-fog. And to sum up: spoggles are real. Spoggles are good. Spoggles may save your eyesight. Wear them if you have them.
Mine: But looking nerdy and having to take care of your PPE and using good personal hygiene while at work are a small price to pay compared to losing your eyesight or getting a nasty infection in your eye from contaminated dust. [...] Keep a supply of spoggles on hand. With some lanyards. And some no-fog. [...] So, to sum up: spoggles are real. Spoggles are good. Spoggles may save your eyesight. Wear them if you have them.
I'm choosing to not be irritated (although, really, how hard would it have been to say something like, "Thanks, Industrious Hygienist in Arizona, for the original content!" with a link to my blog?). I'm choosing to remember that it doesn't matter how the information gets out to workers, as long as it is effective in helping them realize that PPE is important but has limitations.
And I'm choosing to be flattered. But I may continue to post about spoggles and throw the keyword into a bunch of my new posts just to keep the excitement alive. There will also be a new cartoon about spoggles coming up soon.
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