Preventing Workplace Eye Injuries: What You Might Be Missing
Human beings are highly visual animals. Where other animals rely on smell or hearing, human beings are heavily reliant on our eyes to collect information about our world. An injury to the eye can change a person's life, from their ability to simply get around their house, to their future employability. An injury to one or both eyes can cause a business to lose a valued worker and can be devastating for the worker himself.
Because of this, most construction, craft, and repair businesses require the use of safety goggles in the work place. Still, not enough companies insist on safety gear. The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that eye injuries in the work place occur at a rate of 1,000 per day. 90% of these could have been prevented with proper safety gear.
Managers and manufacturing blogs will often list three reasons for a worker abandoning his eye gear, discomfort, fogging or scratches lenses, and most common, appearance. This problem has been around since the early 1900s when, thanks to the production of Gas Masks for World War I, safety goggles were beginning to be used more widely.
A New York Times article from 1913 mentions the already rising number of eye injuries due to workers choosing not to wear the proper safety gear. The article complains, "Familiarity with danger so often breeds contempt, so that the glasses are laid aside at times when most needed." Luckily modern manufacturers have already begun to design safety gear that resembles fashionable designer glasses. There have been vast improvements in anti-fog and anti-scratch coating, and a greater focus on comfort. Hopefully these will convince more workers to keep them on.
Even with the proper safety gear there are dangers to the eye that are often overlooked. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the most common cause of eye injuries (just above flying debris, impact, and sparks) is rubbing or itching foreign material into the eye. In other words, even with proper gear, it is important to train workers in eye safety.
Another danger that is often overlooked is UV light. We are often told that UV light is dangerous, but the specifics are not always mentioned. UV light can cause photokeratitis and retinal burn. Long term UVexposure has long been associated with cataract formation. It's the equivalent of a sunburn on your cornea.
Macular Degeneration, on the other hand, is more likely related to long term exposure to the visible light spectrum. If you spend all day working in the sun, or send a team out to work all day in the sun, these are serious dangers that should be considered. This is a danger that is often overlooked. While sunscreen, hardhats, and safety glasses are all traditional around job sites, sunglasses may still be considered unnecessary.
The damage can be compounded by moving back and forth between indoor and outdoor work. Dilation may mean the light accepting pupil is larger as you go outside, possibly causing more damage and you squint and blink. Sunglasses are an excellent solution and many companies are coming up with wonderful sunglass/safety glass combos which protect against both debris and UV light. Some are even polarized to give extra protection. These are ideal for construction, roofing, or any dangerous work outside. These glasses provide both long term and short term protection from injury, and potentially save workers eyes.
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