Eye Spy a Safer Workplace

Every day an estimated 1,000 eye injuries occur in American workplaces. The financial cost of these injuries equals more than $300 million per year in lost production time, medical expenses and workers’ compensation.

After working with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on a survey that revealed the key causes of eye injuries, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is encouraging contractors to reduce eye injuries by improving their workplace eye protection and safety regulations.

Not wearing eye protection or wearing the wrong eye protection for the job contributed to eye injuries at work. The BLS survey reported that nearly three out of every five workers injured were not wearing eye protection at the time of the accident. About 40 percent of the injured workers were wearing some form of eye protection when the accident occurred, but their protective eyeglasses did not have side shields.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 70 percent of accidents studied resulted from flying or falling objects striking the eye. Injured workers estimated that nearly three-fifths of the objects were smaller than pinheads. Most of the particles were said to be traveling faster than a hand-thrown object when the accidents occurred.

Contact with chemicals caused one-fifth of the injuries. Other accidents were caused by objects swinging from a fixed or attached position, like tree limbs, ropes, chains or tools that were pulled into the eye while the worker was using them.

Wearing effective eye protection can prevent eye injuries. OSHA standards require that employers provide workers with suitable eye protection. To be effective, the eyewear must be of the appropriate type for the hazard encountered and properly fitted. For example, the BLS survey showed that 94 percent of the injuries to workers wearing eye protection resulted from objects or chemicals going around or under the protector. Eye protective devices should allow for air to circulate between the eye and the lens. Only 13 workers injured while wearing eye protection reported breakage.

Contractors should offer better training and education to help prevent eye injuries. Workers injured while not wearing protective eyewear most often said they believed it was not required by the situation. Even though the vast majority of employers furnished eye protection at no cost to employees, about 40 percent of workers received no information on where and what kind of eyewear they should use on the job.

Also, eye protection devices must be properly maintained. Scratched and dirty devices reduce vision, cause glare and may contributed to accidents.

Bureau reported that more than 50 percent of workers injured while wearing eye protection thought the eyewear had minimized their injuries. But nearly half the workers also felt that another type of protection could have better prevented or reduced the injuries they suffered. It is estimated that 90 percent of eye injuries can be prevented through the use of proper protective eyewear.

The author is Managing Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at nwisniewski@lawnandlandscape.com.