How much are your eyes worth?

By Mike Spekreijse

In terms of PPE, safety eyewear in particular has advanced considerably compared to what was available 40 or 50 years ago. Eyewear style, comfort, adjustability and variety ensure that eye hazards are minimised to the highest degree. So this begs the question, why are there still so many eye injuries in New Zealand each year?

In New Zealand the compulsory wearing of eye protection within a work environment is uncommon. Usually eye protection is specified if the hazard assessment of a task deems it necessary. The enforcement of wearing eye protection is often then left to the workers to self manage. Enforcing the correct use of eye protection, even by making it compulsory, would make a very large difference in the injury rate.

One company who have made eye protection compulsory in recent times for all staff and sub-contractors is Naylor Love Construction. This step was undertaken following a serious harm eye incident and the realisation that recorded eye injuries were unacceptably high. Naylor Love group health, safety and environmental manager, Ian Alsiweiler, says that it was a real step change for the onsite staff and subcontractors to wear eye protection, but the result has been a sustained drop of reported eye injuries of at least 60 per cent, since implementation.

Employers' responsibilities as regards eye protection are as follows:

• During hazard assessments of workplace or tasks, consideration is given as to eliminating or isolation the eye hazard where possible
• Consideration as to which type of eye protection is most suitable to minimise the hazard
• Provide the appropriate safety eyewear for each task and require all employees to wear it.

The most common reasons given by employees for not wearing eye protection include:

• The usual, "I forgot" or "I lost them"
• The worker feels or thinks they look silly wearing certain types of eye protection
• The eye protection lens is scratched, dirty, they fog up or are unserviceable
• The eye protection doesn't fit properly
• The worker gets a headache from wearing the eye protection
• The worker normally wears prescription glasses and didn't have suitable "over glasses" available.
• The major reasons workers experience eye injuries on the job are because they were not wearing eye protection, they were wearing the wrong kind for the job or not wearing it properly.

To make the correct decision as to what type of protective eye wear should be worn a thorough understanding of the potential hazards is needed in each workplace. The key hazards are:

• Projectiles (concrete, metal, wood and other objects such as staples, nails or shards of broken material)
• Chemicals (splashes, fumes, dust particles)
• Radiation (visible light, ultraviolet radiation, heat or infrared radiation and lasers)
• Biological (for example, hepatitis or HIV) from blood or other bodily fluids.

Once the hazards are identified the correct choice of which safety eyewear to be used can be made. It should be remembered that in a few instances more than one maybe necessary.

Non-prescription and prescription safety glasses
Although safety glasses may look like normal dress eyewear, they are designed to provide significantly more eye protection. Safety glasses must meet AS/NZS standard 1337. Safety glasses provide eye protection for general working conditions where there may be light dust, chips or flying particles. Additional side protection should be provided by the use of side shields or the wraparound-style frame and lens The majority of safety glasses are rated for medium impact situations. High impact eye protection needs to be used in situations where possible projectiles can travel at high speed such as when using nail guns or grinders.

Goggles
Goggles provide the same benefits as glasses but with better dust and chemical splash protection. In addition, they provide a secure shield around the entire eye and protect against hazards coming from any direction. Goggles are the best option for biological and chemical hazards as they provide a better seal around the eye.

Face shields
Face shields are used to protect workers exposed to chemicals, heat, blood borne pathogens and projectiles. They are generally rated high impact and being further away from the face provide some enhanced protection from high speed projectile such as ricochet nails or shattered angle grinder disks. They should not be worn alone but in conjunction with safety glasses or goggles as some shields have gaps around the edge especially those that clip onto the common styles of safety helmets.

Helmets
The best option when working near hazardous radiation such as welding, situations when grinding and working with molten metals. Fully automatic welding helmets are a good example of the protection available these days.

Images supplied by Sperian Safety.

Mike Spekreijse is safety, health and environmental advisor for Site Safe New Zealand.  Site Safe New Zealand is the not-for-profit health and safety body for the New Zealand construction industry.

For further information, visit: www.sitesafe.org.nz