The CDC reports that each day about 2000 U.S. workers sustain a job-related eye injury that requires medical treatment. Workers can help greatly reduce their risk by wearing the appropriate protective eyewear (goggles, face shields, safety glasses, or full face respirators) for the task they are doing.
Despite this alarming statistic, when doing walkthroughs of facilities, one of the most common issues we note is a lack of eye protection worn by employees. OSHA specifically requires appropriate eyewear for any tasks that involve exposure to flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation. But, given how common eye injuries are, only wearing safety glasses at these times is not best practice.
If eye injuries are common in your industry, it is a good idea to have a personal protective equipment policy that requires safety glasses on the shop floor at all times. This ensures that employees are wearing them whenever they are vulnerable to eye injuries. Management and supervisors should lead by example. You cannot expect employees to be good about wearing eye protection when their leaders are not.
When selecting safety glasses for your facility:
- Only provide safety glasses that are ANSI-approved.
- Ensure that employees are given comfortable options and that they are in good condition. Safety glasses will not be worn if they are uncomfortable, scratched or dirty. Employees should be responsible for keeping their safety eyewear in a safe location where they will not become dirty or damaged.
- Consider providing employees who wear prescription glasses an allowance to purchase prescription safety glasses. These will likely be much more comfortable than safety glasses designed to fit over prescription glasses.
- Remember that face shields are not a substitute for safety glasses. Face shields should be worn in combination with safety glasses, not instead of them.