Eye safetyatworkrev

Eye Safety At Work
Is Everyone’s Business.

Eye Safety in Your Workplace
Creating and maintaining a safe working environment is the responsibility of
employers and employees. It is a team effort!
 Employers are required to conduct an eye hazard assessment and use engineering
controls to remove or minimize hazards where possible.
 Employers are required to provide properly fitting protective eyewear appropriate to the
job when an eye hazard exists and to ensure that workers use the eyewear.
 Employers and employees should use protective eyewear when at the worksite or in an
area with eye hazards.
 Everyone should be on the lookout for new eye hazards. If new hazards are identified or
if appropriate protective eyewear is not available or is missing, notify your supervisor.
 When protective eyewear is a part of your job, make a habit of wearing it and encourage
your coworkers to use it, too. Protective eyewear is an important tool of your trade.

Eye Safety At Work Is Everyone’s Business!

Prevent Injury. Use Protective Eyewear.

Why Is Eye Safety Important?
Eye injuries impact everyone, not just the injured worker.
 Why is eye safety important? It’s the law! Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) regulations require that employers provide a safe work
environment, which includes supplying the appropriate personal protective eyewear.
 For workers, eye injuries may lead to pain and discomfort, medical costs, lost work
time, lost wages, and even permanent disability.
 For employers, eye injuries may impact productivity, worker morale, and
compensation costs.
 An eye injury at work may severely impact daily living, family interactions,
recreational activities, and one’s enjoyment of life.


Workplace Eye Injury Facts
Each day, about 2,000 U.S. workers have a job-related
eye injury that requires medical treatment.


Eye injuries are common in all industries, but workers in
construction, mining, agriculture, and manufacturing have the
highest rates of eye injuries on the job.



Men have about 80 percent of work-related eye injuries.
Among workers treated in an emergency department, men
had an eye injury rate 4 times higher than women.



Workers less than 45 years of age have an eye injury rate
almost 3 times higher than older workers.



Each day, more than 100 eye injuries result in a day or more
of lost work time.


Common Causes of Eye Injuries
The most prevalent sources of eye injuries include the following:
 Scrap materials, waste, and windblown dust
 Flying material particles or slivers from wood, metal, plastic, and cement
 Chemicals or chemical products
 Falling or misdirected objects
 UV light from welding torches


Types of Eye Protection
The proper type of eye protection must be
selected to match the type of hazard.
 The most common types of eye protection
include the following:
– Safety glasses with side protection/shields
– Goggles
– Faceshields
– Welding helmets
– Full-face respirators


 Safety glasses are designed to withstand impact from common
workplace hazards and to provide the minimum level of protection
required in the workplace.
 Safety glasses with side protection are required any time there are
hazards from flying particles or objects such as minor dust or chips.
 Safety glasses are commonly used as protection against impact and
low-intensity optical radiation from soldering and the sun.


 Goggles are stronger than safety glasses and are used for protection
from high impacts, particles, chemical splashes, and welding light.
 Faceshields are used for even higher impact tasks and protect the
wearer’s face and eyes from dangers such as critical chemicals and
bloodborne hazards.
 Welding helmets protect the user from the intensity of welding light,
which can cause severe burns to the eye and surrounding tissue.


Selecting Appropriate Protective Eyewear
 Per OSHA regulations, all protective eyewear must meet the ANSI Z87.1 Eye and
Face Protection Standards.
 Safety eyewear must have “Z87” or “Z87+” marked on the frame and, in some
cases, the lens.
 Safety eyewear with polycarbonate lenses affords the highest impact resistance
and greater eye safety (marked Z87+).
 Protective eyewear should be properly fitted and comfortable to wear.
 When other personal protective equipment (PPE) such as
a half-face respirator is required, protective eyewear must
be selected to fit so that both types of PPE work properly.


Selecting Appropriate Protective Eyewear
 Glasses that are not snug against the face create gaps in protection. The biggest
gaps are usually near the corners of the glasses and allow more exposure to
hazards coming at an angle from above or below.
 Adjustable-temple glasses, eyewear retainers, and straps help hold the glasses
in the proper position, close to the face.
 Safety glasses have hard or soft nose pieces, padded temples, and a
variety of other features that improve comfort without adding great cost.


Caring for Your Protective Eyewear
 Care for your protective eyewear in a manner that will extend the life of your
equipment and help to ensure that it provides the maximum protection when you
need it the most!
 Use polycarbonate lenses with anti-scratch coating.
 Wear an eyewear retainer strap that will let the glasses hang
around your neck when not in use.


Caring for Your Protective Eyewear
 Store protective eyewear in a case or an old sock before tossing them into a tool
chest or the seat of a car or pickup.
 Clean your protective eyewear with eyeglass cleaning solutions, or wash and
wipe them with a soft, clean cloth.
 Use anti-fog solutions to keep your lenses from fogging.


Reducing Workplace Eye Injuries
Proper selection and use of eye and face protection will help prevent eye
injuries. Other precautions that employers and employees can take to reduce
the risk of eye injury include the following:
 Ensure that the appropriate eye protection is available at the worksite.
 Keep bystanders out of work areas and/or behind protective barriers.
 Use your tools properly and keep them in good working order.
 Use caution flags to identify potential hazards,
such as hanging or protruding objects.


Reducing Workplace Eye Injuries
 Do not remove your protective eyewear until you leave the
site or are out of the hazard zone. After you have finished
with a tool or specific task, there still may be hazardous
materials around you from other workers.
 Consult your supervisor if you have any doubt about the
type of eye protection needed for a job or specific location.
 Contact lens users should wear goggles or full-face
respirators in dust-laden or chemical environments.
If your contacts feel gritty or are irritating you, remove
them immediately. Have a pair of prescription
eyeglasses available if you need to remove your
contacts while working.


Caring for Eye Injuries
Knowing what to do in an emergency may save your vision and/or
the vision of your coworkers.
 Know the locations of eyewash stations in
your workplace.
 Keep emergency sterile eyewash solutions
accessible to you, your coworkers, and employees.
 Understand basic first-aid techniques.


Basic First-Aid Techniques
Basic first-aid techniques include the following:
 Specks in the eye
– Do not rub the eye
– Flush the eye with a large amount of water
– See a doctor if the speck does not wash out, or if pain or redness continues
 Cuts, punctures, or objects stuck in the eye
– Do not wash out the eye
– Do not try to remove an object stuck in the eye
– See a doctor at once

First-aid advice courtesy of Prevent Blindness America


More First-Aid Techniques
 Chemical burns
– Flush the eye immediately with water or any drinkable liquid and continue flushing
for at least 15 minutes. For caustic or basic solutions, continue flushing while
en route to the doctor.
– Flush the eye even if it has a contact lens. Flushing over the lens may dislodge it.
– See a doctor at once.
 Blows to the eye
– Apply a cold compress without pressure.
– Tape a plastic bag containing crushed ice to the forehead and let it rest gently
on the injured eye.
– See a doctor at once in cases of continued pain, reduced vision, blood in the eye,
or discoloration, which can mean internal eye damage.

First-aid advice courtesy of Prevent Blindness America


Make Eye Safety
Your Business.

For more information, call 1-800-232-4636

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