90% of Eye Injuries are Preventable

NIOSH reports about 2,000 U.S. workers sustain job-related eye injuries that require medical treatment each DAY. That’s more than every person in Seattle each year sustaining an eye injury! However, safety experts and eye doctors believe the right eye protection could have lessened the severity or even prevented 90% of these eye injuries.

Simply using the proper eye protection on the job could prevent thousands of eye injuries each year.

Common eye injuries occurring at work can result from chemicals or foreign objects in the eye and cuts or scrapes on the cornea. Other causes of injuries include splashes with grease and oil, burns from steam, ultraviolet or infrared radiation exposure, and flying wood or metal chips.

Two major reasons workers experience eye injuries on the job are because they were:

• Not wearing eye protection, or
• Wearing the wrong kind of protection for the job.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey of workers who suffered eye injuries revealed that nearly three out of five were not wearing eye protection at the time of the accident. These workers most often reported that they believed protection was not required for the situation.

OSHA requires the use of eye and face protection whenever there is a reasonable probability of injury that could be prevented by such equipment. Personal protective eyewear, such as goggles, face shields, safety glasses, or full face respirators must be used when an eye hazard exists. The eye protection chosen for specific work situations depends upon the type of hazard, the circumstances of exposure, other protective equipment used, and individual vision needs.

(Today’s post comes to us courtesy of Al Rainsberger, CHMM for Foss Maritime)

Eye Injuries in the Workplace

One of the most common injuries in the workplace is also one that can very easily be reduced. We’re talking about eye injuries.

Did you know that there are over 20,000 recorded eye injuries each year? And that’s not counting all the injuries that go unreported. It is estimated that eye injuries alone account for almost $300 million each year in medical costs, workman’s comp and lost time.

The simple fact is  that safety eyewear can reduce these injuries by up to 90%. That’s substantial!

A quick assessment of you workplace will let you know if safety glasses or goggles are needed. Are there particles in the air (sawdust, for example)? Is there any debris? Are there chemicals present that might constitute a splash hazard? Is there grinding, welding, sawing, hammering, etc… happening?

There are so many options and styles available today that there really isn’t a good reason not to protect your eyes while working.

Workplace Eye Injuries (Infographic)

Falling and Fighting Most Responsible for Eye Injuries

According to a study conducted by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) falling and fighting are the top two reasons that cause eye injuries that result in hospitalizations.

The study, conducted over a 10 year period tracked all eye injuries where the patient had to be hospitalized and found that:

The top reason recorded for eye injuries was falling (8,425 recorded cases). Most of the patients involved were elderly (over 60 years of age)

The second most recorded reason was brawling or fighting (nearly 8,000 recorded cases, not that far behind falling).

Additionally, the study found that the cost of treating these injuries increased by 62 percent.

Read the complete article on the AAO sites here.

Edge Eyewear Slow Motion Video – Airsoft Gun

Watch Edge take on an airsoft pellet traveling at over 500 feet per second! This video also includes an impactful true story involving a young man and an airsoft eye accident.

http://www.youtube.com/theedgeeyewear

Eye Safety isn’t just about Safety Glasses

There is no doubt that safety glasses protect your eyes from eye injuries. Whether you are using a weed wacker or chopping wood at home or using power tools at work, you should always be wearing safety glasses.

Eye safety, however, doesn’t stop there. You eyes need more than just protection against flying debris. Here are a couple of other things that you need to do to protect your eyes.

1. Proper diet – Foods high in vitamin C, vitamin E, Beta-carotene, zinc as well as high in omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA all help promote eye health. Additionally, if you are diabetic, you need to keep to a low-GI (low-glycemic) diet.

2. Smoking – Smoking has, of course, been linked to a number of health problems. Among them is age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Smokers also have a higher risk of cataracts.

3. Family History – Certain eye related problems are genetic in nature. Knowing and understanding your family medical history can help you make educated choices about your eye health.

4. Yearly Exams – Nothing is more important for your eyes than catching any potential problem before they become serious. Additionally, weak or inaccurate prescriptions can cause eye strain. Make sure you schedule an annual eye exam to properly monitor your eye health.

5. Throw your contacts out – You may be tempted to keep wearing those contacts past the point when you are supposed to put a new pair in but don’t. Whether you can see it or not, your contacts may be building up a film on them that can cause the lens not to breathe as well. It may also collect microscopic particles that can, over time, damage your eye. Replace the lenses when you are supposed to.

Edge Eyewear Slow Motion Series – Nail Gun

I don’t normally use this blog to promote product but I have to pass this video along. It shows why you need to wear ANSI approved eyewear to keep your eyes protected. Pretty impressive… and pretty scary to see what could happen if your eye protection doesn’t pass the test.

Go here to view our selection of safety eyewear.

Why wear eye protection

It seems anymore that we are told to wear eye protection for almost any and all jobs. Nothing wrong with that. I would rather be wearing eye protection even if the risk of eye injury is infinitesimaly small than not be wearing it when I need it and go through the rest of my life either blind or with only one good eye.

That being said, all eye wear is not created equal and in order to be properly protected, you need to identify the hazard or risk an eye injury even if you are wearing eye protection.

OSHA identifies five hazards when it comes to possible eye injury:

1. Impact – This is probably the first one that people can identify. There are a myriad of safety glasses out there in all sizes, styles, shades and shape that are designed to protect your eyes from flying objects. Additionally, depending on the work being done, faceshields or goggles might be a better choice (if, for example, you need to protect the whole face rather than just the eyes, a faceshield would be a better option).

2. Dust – Safety glasses have been found to be extremely ineffective in protecting against eye injuries where there is dust in the air. The dust particles simply flow under, around or over the lens and find their way into your eye. Goggles are the obvious choice in this instance.

3. Chemicals – If the hazard is a chemical rather than a flying piece of debris, safety glasses are not going to be adequate. A chemical splash might result in the liquid dripping down into the eyes in spite of the fact that the glasses protected against immediate splash contact. Chemical splash goggles and/or a faceshield would be the best manner of protection.

4. Heat – If the hazard is extreme temperatures, a heat shield, welding goggle or welding helmet is needed. If you are using a heat shield in instances of molten metal or chemicals that may splash, you will need to double up with a heat goggle under the heat shield.
Electrical arc flash is a good example of this type of application. Arc flash kits (like this one from National Safety apparel) come complete with a high heat faceshield because of the extreme temperatures generate by an arc flash.

5. Optical Radiation – Even the briefest of contacts with optical radiation or lasers can permanently damage the eye. In this instance, you will need special “laser eyewear“. Here again, not all laser eyewear is equal in protection. You will need to identify the filter type, the laser type, the wavelength, the lens color and the VLT% in order to get the correct protection factor.

Note: if you are wearing a faceshield that can be pivoted up, as most faceshields do, OSHA requires that you wear safety glasses or googles under the faceshiel. The idea being that the hazard might occur while the faceshield is in the “up” position.

Women Must Take Steps to Avoid Vision Loss

According to a new study publishes on Prevent Blindness America’s website, women are much more susceptible to vision loss, including blindness than are men. This is mainly attributed to longevity (women generally have a longer life expectancy than men) but also to hormonal factors. In fact, studies done by Prevent Blindness America (PBA) and the National Eye Institute (NEI) show that “of the more than 3.6 million Americans age 40 and older who suffer from visual impairment, including blindness, 2.3 million are women.”

Prevent Blindness America provides tips for women to keep their eyes healthy:

Get an Eye Exam– All women should make regular eye exams part of their health routine. PBA recommends everyone receive a comprehensive eye exam by age 40, if not earlier, and follow up care as recommended by an eye care professional.

Know Your Family History– Genetics plays a key role in eye disease. Research your familys health history and notify your eye care professional of any eye diseases that run in the family.

Eat Healthy– A diet rich in beta carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids can also help guard against vision loss from eye disease.

Take Supplements– Antioxidants have been shown to actually reduce the progression of some eye illnesses, including AMD. Vitamin A, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin C and zinc are good sources to help maintain eye health. Consult your physician before taking any vitamins or supplements.

Quit Smoking– Smoking, even second-hand smoke, increases the risk of eye disease.

Wear UV Eye Protection- When venturing outdoors,PBA recommends wearing brimmed hats in conjunction with UV-rated sunglasses (labeled: absorbs 99-100 percent of UV-A and UV-B rays). UV rays are extremely dangerous to the eyes and have been linked to the development of cataracts and AMD later in life.

For more information on womens eye health, including fact sheets on eye diseases, pregnancy and vision, and the safe use of cosmetics, call 1-800-331-2020.

Don’t just wear safety glasses at work

Most of us know to wear safety glasses at work. In many cases it’s mandatory. We get to work and donning the PPE is part of the daily routine.

Here’s a tip though… Of the 2.5 million eye injuries that happen each year in the US, 50% occur at home.

The fact of the matter is that the reasons why safety eyewear makes sense at work also applies at home. So why aren’t we wearing eyewear when we are working around the house?

1. We don’t have safety glasses at home. We wear them at work because the company provides them. Chances are however, at home we just keep forgetting to buy a pair so we don’t have them when we need them. Solution: Go online now and purchase a pair! Do it now and they’ll be there next time you need them. Wait and you’ll probably forget and they won’t be there next time you start up that chain saw or weed wacker. Better yet, purchase more than one pair (See next tip)
2. The glasses aren’t readily available. You know that you’ve got a pair of safety glasses somewhere but right at the time when you’re about to start up the table saw you can’t for the life of you remember where you left them. Rather than stop what you’re doing to go look for them you tell yourself that it’ll just take a second and that you’ll be careful (like that’s going to make a difference when that piece of debris comes flying at your eye at 250 mph!) Solution: Purchase several pair of safety glasses. Use them and leave them where you work so they’ll be where you need them when you need them. If you only have one pair, you’ll use it while gardening and leave it with the gardening stuff so that, when you start up the table saw the glasses won’t be around. Get several pair and leave a pair with the gardening stuff, one in the tool shop, etc… If they are there, you’ll more than likely put them on.
3. They are comfortable – We have a saying in the safety industry… “the best PPE is the PPE that workers will wear!” If it isn’t comfortable, they aren’t going to want to wear it. Solution: The only reason why safety glasses might not be comfortable is because you haven’t found the right pair. Safety glasses don’t need to be and shouldn’t be uncomfortable. Try on several pair and find the right ones (the right ones don’t pinch or put too much pressure on the temples. Pay attention to the eyelashes. They shouldn’t brush against the lens).
4. They fog up – Many eye injuries occur while the worker’s glasses are on the top of his or her head because the glasses were fogging up. Solution: Pay a little more for anti-fog protective coating.

Don’t be a statistic! Don’t be safe at work and stupid at home. Wear safety glasses at home whenever you are using power tools or doing work that might potentially result in an eye injury.