Eye Safety

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Eye Safety

• www.charleshowes.com

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I. Observe eye safety signs and procedures

• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that
  most workers are hurt while doing their regular
  jobs. Workers injured while not wearing
  protective eyewear most often said they believed
  it was not required by the situation.

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II. Always wear appropriate ANSI Z87 approved eye
protection in clean and serviceable condition for
mechanical, chemical, biological or radiant
energy hazards.

• OSHA standards require that employers provide
  workers with suitable eye protection. To be
  effective, the eyewear must be of the appropriate
  type for the hazard encountered and properly
  fitted. For example, the BLS survey showed that
  94 of the injuries to workers wearing eye
  protection resulted from objects or chemicals
  going around or under the protector. Eye
  protection devices should allow for air to
  circulate between the eye and the lens. Only a
  small percentage of workers injured while wearing
  eye protection reported breakage.

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• Nearly one-fifth of the injured workers with eye
  protection wore face shields or welding helmets.
  However, only six percent of the workers injured
  while wearing eye protection wore goggles, which
  generally offer better protection for the eyes.
  Best protection is afforded when goggles are worn
  with face shields.

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III. Never wear contact lenses where smoke, dust,
and chemical fumes exist.

• Contact with chemicals caused one-fifth of all
  occupational eye injuries.

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IV. Know where the eye wash fountain is and how
to use and maintain it.

• Lock and Tag eye wash stations in Open position
  if necessary. Inspect and record monthly.
• Recent studies have raised some concerns about
  portable eye wash stations even when they are
  inspected, cleaned, and filled with water and
  anti-bacterial agents. A number of eye infections
  have been associated with these stations.

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• Infections, whether bacterial, fungal, or viral
  are frequent causes of severe corneal damage and
  ulceration.

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V. Know basic first aid for eye injury so you can
help yourself and your fellow worker.

• Pull down the lower lid to see if the object is
  visible. If so, use the corner of a clean, folded
  handkerchief or tissue to remove the object. Do
  not use cotton balls or swabs around the eye
  since the fibers could come off in the eye and be
  a further source of aggravation.

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• If the object is under the upper lid, have the
  person look down, grasp the eyelashes of the
  upper lid and pull the upper lid forward and down
  over the lower lid. This may dislodge the object.
• If these measures do not dislodge the object,
  then take an applicator and horizontally depress
  the upper lid by pulling up on the eyelashes
  against the applicator. Then lift the object off
  the lid with the corner of a handkerchief or
  tissue.

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• Flush the eye with an eye dropper or small bulb
  syringe.
• If you are unable to remove the object, place
  protective dressings over both eyes and have a
  specialist examine the injured person.

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VI. Have an eye examination by your eye doctor
every two or three years, or sooner as directed,
to ensure you have good vision to do your job
safely and efficiently.

• Eye disease can strike at any age. Many eye
  diseases do not cause symptoms until the disease
  has done damage. Since most blindness is
  preventable if diagnosed and treated early,
  regular medical examinations by an
  ophthalmologist are very important. Only an
  ophthalmologist (MD) can provide total care for
  your eyes medical, surgical, and optical.

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VII. Report to your supervisor hazards and unsafe
practices that may cause eye injury.

• BLS found that almost 70 of the accidents
  studied resulted from flying or falling objects
  or sparks striking the eye. Injured workers
  estimated that nearly three-fifths of the objects
  were smaller than a pin head. Most of the
  particles were said to be traveling faster than a
  hand-thrown object when the accident occurred.

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VIII. Encourage your fellow workers to practice
eye safety and receive annual eye safety training.

• Even though the vast majority of employers
  furnished eye protection at no cost to employees,
  about 40 of the workers received no information
  on where and what kind of eyewear should be used.

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IX.Use common sense in all activities potentially
hazardous to the eye.

• It is estimated that 90 of eye injuries can be
  prevented through the use of proper protective
  eyewear.

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X. Wear ASTM F803 approved eye guards when
playing sports

• More than 43,000 sports and recreational eye
  injuries were treated in hospital emergency rooms
  in 2004.

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Eye Protection

• Home Sports

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Facts Figures

• Eye injury is the leading cause of blindness in
  children in the United States.
• 160,000 school-age children in the U.S. suffer
  eye injuries each year.
• More than 2.4 million eye injuries (equivalent to
  the total population of Arkansas) occur in the
  U.S every year.
• About 55 of people injured are under 25.

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• Boys between the ages of 11 - 14 have the highest
  risk of eye injury among young people.
• Baseball is one of the most common causes of eye
  injuries among young people ages 5-14.
• Squash and racquetball cause the most
  sports-related eye injuries among adults ages
  24-70.

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• Automobile repair is the most common cause of eye
  injury among young men in their late teens-early
  twenties.
• In young people, vision problems or impairment
  can occur several years after an eye injury, if
  the injury is not treated properly.

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Home

• Knives, pencils, and other sharp objects can
  cause severe injury to the cornea.
• Fireworks, exploding batteries, and toxic
  chemicals, especially alkalis, can also result in
  severe scarring of the cornea.

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Diabetes

• Diabetes mellitus is a problem with the
  utilization of blood sugar. There is too little
  insulin or it is ineffective. Diabetes can cause
  many problems in many body systems. Heart attack,
  stroke, kidney failure, blindness, nerve injury,
  and amputation are some of the more grim
  complications.

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• Recent studies show clear proof that the tighter
  the control of the diabetes, the fewer the
  complications. Eye disease (retinopathy), kidney
  disease (nephropathy), and nerve injury
  (neuropathy) were all shown to be dramatically
  less when the diabetes was in tight control.

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• Glycohemoglobin is a blood test that helps
  determine overall diabetic control over the last
  three months.
• Home testing of blood sugar helps diabetics
  assume responsibility for their disease.
• Special eye examination (dilated fundus exam),
  improves the chances of preventing visual loss
  from diabetes.

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Cosmetics

• Keep makeup containers closed tightly when not in
  use.
• Keep makeup out of sunlight to avoid destroying
  the preservatives.
• Dont use eye cosmetics if you have an eye
  infection such as conjunctivitis (pink eye), and
  throw away any makeup you were using when you
  first discovered the infection.

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• Never add any liquid to a product unless the
  instructions tell you to.
• Throw away any makeup if the color changes or an
  odor develops. Preservatives can degrade over
  time and may not be able to fight bacteria.

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Automobile Air Bags

• While recent reports have raised concerns about
  head-and-neck injuries that can result from air
  bags in motor vehicles, a new report shows that
  air bags also can cause serious eye injuries.
• Eye injuries resulting from air bags may become a
  larger problem as more cars are equipped with the
  devices.

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• In a study of five patients treated at the
  ophthalmology trauma service at the University of
  California at Los Angeles, researchers observed
  injuries caused by drivers side air bags ranging
  in severity from minor eye bruises to blindness.

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• Shorter people, who tend to sit closer to the
  steering wheel, may have a higher risk of eye
  injury because of increased impact that results
  from being closer to the wheel.