Date: March 4, 2014
March is Workplace Eye Wellness Month - a good time to refocus attention on your eye protection program.
Here are a few eye safety tips and facts (please share them with your friends and co-workers – you might save someone’s eyesight):
- Look carefully at plant operations, work areas, access routes, and equipment. Study injury patterns to see where accidents are occurring;
- Conduct regular vision testing, as uncorrected vision can cause accidents;
- Select protective eyewear based on specific duties or hazards;
- Establish a mandatory eye protection program in all operation areas;
- Have eyewear fitted by a professional;
- Establish first-aid procedures for eye injuries, and make eyewash stations available, especially where chemicals are in use;
- Make eye safety part of your employee training and new hire orientation;
- Make sure managers and executives set an example by wearing protective eyewear wherever it’s worn by other employees;
- Regularly review and revise your policies, and set a goal of zero eye injuries;
- Display a copy of your policy where employees can see it.
More than 700,000 work-related eye injuries occur each year! All it takes is a tiny sliver of metal, particle of dust, or splash of chemical to cause significant and permanent eye damage. Eye and face protection standards require employers to ensure that each employee uses appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards from flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids, or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation.
It’s also a good time to remind everyone of off-the-job eye hazards like do-it-yourself work on cars and homes, cooking accidents, sports injuries, yard work, and chemical splashes from cleaners and fertilizers.
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