Keeping Workplace Eye Wellness in Sight

Workplace eye wellness adds up to more than just grabbing a pair of safety glasses. From adjusting office lighting to maintaining protective equipment to properly flushing eyes after encountering a hazard, safety professionals and workers should take a comprehensive approach to eye wellness. After all, when it comes to protecting our vision, the stakes are high.

“Without your eyes, you can't do anything,” said Mike O'Hearn, V.P. of sales and marketing at H.L. Bouton. “So that should be a top priority — to protect the vision of the worker. There's no question about that.”

Promoting eye wellness in the workplace not only protects workers' eyes from serious injury, but also makes workers comfortable and more productive. Plus, it saves money. As O'Hearn points out, eye injuries are costly, so employers can reduce health care expenses simply by encouraging workplace eye wellness.

“I'm afraid sometimes in today's environment, employers don't really realize how important that is or how costly it is,” O'Hearn says.

According to Prevent Blindness America, a volunteer eye health and safety organization, half of all blindness is preventable through early detection and treatment by an eye care professional. That means that by keeping their eye on workers' eye wellness, employers can guarantee not only a healthier bottom line, but also a healthier work force.

RISKS AND TRAINING

Mike Myrick, product trainer and analyst for MCR Safety, says education is the first step toward workplace eye wellness.

“Training is first — educating [workers] on what the hazards are,” Myrick says. “In any work environment, whether it's an office or a warehouse or a chemical plant, if people understand what the hazards are around them, then they can start looking at how to improve.”

At MCR Safety, for example, Myrick noticed that the employees who spent upwards of 5 hours a day for 3 weeks in the training room were developing eye fatigue from the room's fluorescent lighting. MCR switched to a cooler, softer light, which helped relieve eye fatigue and allowed employees to continue training more comfortably.

More obvious and threatening hazards to eyes include flying particles or chemical splashes. According to Myrick, commonly overlooked hazards in warehouses include falling boxes, box corners that could strike the eye area, battery acid and more. Aside from injuries resulting from chemicals or objects, the eye also is vulnerable to disease.

For many workplaces, the first step toward eye wellness is obtaining eye protection. But workers need to do more than simply don a pair of safety glasses. They also have to keep them clean and in good repair.

FIT AND CARE

“What you see at work is very important,” says Roland Westerdal, president of Elvex. “If the lens is dirty, you may not be as observant of the things around you as you would with a pair of clean glasses.”

Westerdal suggests cleaning the glasses every day, either with a specially formulated lens-cleaning solution or with soap and water. Dry the glasses with a soft paper towel or lens-cleaning cloth. To extend the life of the glasses, he suggests storing them in special eyeglass storage bags.

O'Hearn adds that sometimes, workers make the mistake of cleaning their glasses on a shirt or with a rag from the toolbox.

“It's good that they're thinking about cleaning the lens, but grit or grime will damage the lens,” he says. “So it's important that they clean the lens with proper lens-cleaning equipment or tissues.”

Myrick cautions against using ammonia products, such as Windex, to clean glasses. By doing so, workers effectively place a chemical right by their eyes, which can cause burning and discomfort. Rubbing alcohol, meanwhile, breaks down polycarbonate, so glasses cleaned regularly with rubbing alcohol may become brittle or lose their anti-fog coatings. Anything that obstructs the vision in the slightest can be dangerous.

“Injuries occur when someone lifts the glasses up to see just a little better or clearer,” O'Hearn says. “This is result of obstruction of vision with product that hasn't been cleaned. Or it may not fit. Employees need to be cognizant of the fit factor and cleanliness of the product.”