Regardless of the prevalence of Safety Glasses on our sites in Perth, work-related eye injuries remain a common problem in the workforce. They are also a common cause of work-related injury presentation to medical centres and emergency departments across Perth.
Most of the injuries that occur appear to be relatively minor (not requiring hospital admission) and most involve foreign bodies on the eye, particularly on the cornea. Grinding and welding are the two most common tasks being performed when an eye injury occurs, but there is a very wide range of circumstances that can result in an eye injury.
Not surprisingly, some of the eye injuries occurred when the person was not wearing appropriate eye protection. However, a considerable proportion of cases occurred when a form of eye protection does appear to have been worn.
The majority of the incidents where persons were injured despite wearing eye protection involved a foreign body of some sort flying under, over, or to the side of the protective edge of the glasses, and into the eye.
There is no doubt that wearing eye protection dramatically decreases the risk of sustaining an eye injury at work but are you doing enough?
Careful consideration to the type of eye protection and how it is utilised is essential, and for high-risk tasks (like grinding and welding), more than one form of protection should be used.
It’s such a simple task to throw on a pair of goggles or don a face-shield, but every day hard workers are paying the price for not doing so. A serious eye injury can prevent someone from doing many of the things that require depth perception – including driving, which can have a very serious impact on work and home life.
Before you start doing any of these high-risk jobs: think about your eyes, guys. Are they protected enough?