have a head portion 26 a neck portion 28 and a collar 30 the head portion of the stud preferably increases in diameter from its end to a maximum adjacent the neck portion e g is conical in configuration the maximum diameter of the head portion preferably is somewhat greater than the diameter of the holes 22 the diameter of the neck portion 28 of the studs being slightly smaller than the diameter of the holes 22 whereby a snap fit is obtained between the studs 24 and holes 22 the studs 22 can be attached to one end of the strip 12 by being inserted in a hole 23 similar to hole 22 the stud being maintained in place by means of the head portion 26 and collar 30 the snap on snap off feature of the safety shield of the present invention is of considerable importance in simplifying maintenance of flanged pipe joints in addition the fluoropolymer of which the shield is made is transparent making possible visual inspection of pipe joints for leaks although not shown in the drawings the shield 10 may have a hole in the arcuate strip portion 12 for receiving a valve stem where the pipe joint to be protected also includes a valve such as a valve of the ball butterfly plug or diaphragm type a particularly advantageous feature of the novel safety shields of this invention is their ability to be further heat shrunk after installation.