What does Z87+ mean? The marking on the temple, decoded

Z87+ in fifty words

ANSI/ISEA Z87.1 is the U.S. standard for eye and face protection. Every compliant lens and frame is marked with the manufacturer's mark and "Z87". If the protector also passed the standard's high-impact tests, the mark becomes "Z87+". That single character separates a pair that met the optical and basic requirements from one that was hit hard and stayed in one piece.

Every marking, in a table

Codes as described in MSC's Z87.1 guide and the ISEA's 2020 update notice, linked in Sources.

The tests behind the plus

Two tests earn the plus. The high-mass test drops a 500 g pointed weight from about four feet onto the lens mounted on a head form; the lens may not crack through, and no piece may detach toward the eye. The high-velocity test fires a quarter-inch steel ball at the lens at about 150 ft/s (MSC quotes it as 102 mph), with faster speeds for goggles and face shields. The frame is tested with the lens in place, which is why a pair is rated as an assembly and a replacement lens is only rated in the frame it was tested in.

These are blunt-object tests. They simulate a dropped tool, a thrown chip, a bounced BB. They do not simulate a jagged fragment at high speed — that is the military standard, covered on ANSI Z87.1 vs MIL-PRF-32432.

Frames are marked too

Look at the inside of the temple, not just the lens. A rated pair carries the maker's mark and Z87 or Z87+ on the frame as well as the lens. Prescription safety frames carry Z87-2, and the Rx lenses made for them carry their own mark; if your optician glazes an ordinary frame with polycarbonate, the lens may be tough but the pair is not a Z87.1 protector. The three prescription routes and which one keeps the rating are on the prescription guide.

2010, 2015, 2020: does the year matter?

You will see all three on product pages. Walker's cites Z87.1-2003 and 2010, Howard Leight 2010, NoCry 2015, Pyramex 2020. The impact tests behind the plus did not change across those editions; what the 2020 edition added, per the ISEA, was anti-fog testing and the X mark, criteria for relaxed-optics protectors, and transmittance allowances for wrap lenses. A pair citing 2010 is not less impact-rated than one citing 2020 — but a maker citing the current edition is telling you its paperwork is current, and we note the edition in every Evidence table.

Picks that state the plus

Three pairs whose pages say "+" or "high impact" in so many words, from three price tiers.