What employers need to know

1. What Employers Need to Know
How To Tell If Your
Employees Should Be
Wearing Protective
Eyewear:

2. Eye Injuries in the Workplace
Eye injuries in the workplace are very common.
According to the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health, about 2,000
U.S. workers sustain job-related eye injuries
that require medical treatment each day.

3. Eye Injuries in the Workplace
• While some injuries heal quickly, if an object
like a nail, staple or piece of wood
penetrates the eye, it could result in
permanent vision loss.
• Even minor eye injuries can cause painful
recurring vision problems such as corneal
erosion.

4. There are two major reasons
workers experience eye
injuries.
#1: Not wearing eye protection
#2: Wearing the wrong kind of protection

5. Eye Injury
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
nearly three out of five workers who suffered
from an eye injury were not wearing eye
protection at the time of the accident.

6. Identifying Eye Hazards at Your
Workplace
The risk of eye injuries are higher in
occupations that involve construction, welding,
landscaping or handling chemicals.

7. The Three Main Causes of Eye Injuries:

8. #1: Flying Objects
• 70 percent of eye injuries are caused by
debris or falling objects.
• The most common source of these eye
injuries occur while woodworking, cutting,
grinding, riveting and spot welding.
Employees who do these kinds of tasks
should wear safety glasses with side shields.

9. #2: Hazardous Chemicals
• Toxic liquids, acids and chemicals can
splash up into the eye. Chemical burns may
also result from rubbing your eyes after
handling chemicals without properly cleaning
your hands.
• If your employees are working with
chemicals, require them to wear goggles and
know the location of emergency eyewash
stations.

10. #3: Harmful Light Radiation
Long hours in the sun without UV-filtering
glasses increase your chances of developing
certain eye diseases. In addition to those who
work outside, people who are exposed to
manmade UV rays, like welders, can also be in
danger.

11. Safety Tips: Easy Steps to Protect
Your Employees

12. Safety Tips
To help prevent accidents from occurring, be
sure to identify any of the above safety dangers
in the workplace and require employees to
wear proper eye protection whenever they’re
passing through a high-risk area. Make sure to
eliminate any hazards beforehand by using
machine guards, work screens or other
engineering controls.

13. Additional Safety Tips
• Know your chemicals. Read and understand
the label and Material Safety Data Sheet for
information on safe handling.
• Keep safety equipment in good repair.
Equipment with dents, scratches and
scrapes should be replaced. Also, check the
manufacture’s guidelines for the life span of
the equipment.

14. Additional Safety Tips
Ask employees not to wear contact lenses.
They may absorb splashed chemicals and
concentrate the burn on the eye. It is safer to
wear prescription glasses with safety goggles
over them.

15. STAY CONNECTED