April ToolBox Talk: Eye Safety

Think of some excuse you have used (or heard others use) for not wearing your eye protection: they are not comfortable, they are dirty, they fog up, you were going to be doing a hazardous task for just a few seconds and did not want to stop and put them on.

While you may think some or all of these excuses sound like good reasons for not wearing your safety glasses or goggles at work, consider what could happen if an accident occurred and injured one or both of your eyes. Is it worth risking injury, or even blindness, for any one of those reasons? Absolutely not!

Here are some of the major requirements of the OSHA standards for eye and face protection that help protect you and me:

• All eye and face protection devices, such as safety glasses, goggles, and face shields must be marked that they meet or exceed the test requirements of ANSI Z87.1-1989. The marking is typically located somewhere on the frame of the glasses or goggles.
• Safety glasses used to protect workers from flying objects must also have side protectors built into the design, or attachable side shields that meet the above-referenced ANSI standard, to prevent objects and particles from injuring your eyes from the sides. Flimsy "slide-on" side shields are not acceptable substitutes.
• Workers needing corrective lenses must either wear approved safety glasses with prescription lenses and frames that meet or exceed the above-referenced ANSI standard, or wear approved goggles designed to be worn over their regular prescription glasses that meet the ANSI standard.

​The lenses of eye protectors must be kept clean as dirty lenses restrict vision. They should be issued on a personal basis and used only by the person they are issued to. If reused they should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Eye protectors should be protected by being placed in suitable cases after each use.

Thousands of people are blinded each year from work-related eye injuries that could have been prevented with the proper selection and use of eye and face protection. Eye injuries alone cost more than $300 million per year in lost production time, medical expenses, and worker compensation.

"90% of occupational eye injuries could have been prevented if the victim was wearing proper eye and face protection."

Contact us today for more information on eye protection and workplace safety.