Eye Safety in the Workplace

Eye Safety in the Workplace

As an employer, advocating for eye safety in the workplace is always a good idea. Eye injuries are costly, and any kind of damage to the sensitive eye area can potentially cause permanent loss of sight, destroying an individual’s career and livelihood in a matter of moments.

It’s not that workers don’t care about protecting their eyes. Eye safety is generally given high priority, however, there are several common reasons why employees may avoid wearing the appropriate protective gear. These include:

Lack of visual acuity.

Not being able to see the work is a common complaint. This is largely due to the use of inferior quality safety eyewear, the prevalence of which is driven by lower costs that price higher-tech, quality safety eyewear out of the market.

Eye fatigue

Eye fatigue is a common complaint among those who should be wearing safety glasses. Lower quality lenses lack the superior optical clarity and distortion-free vision that higher quality safety lenses can deliver.

Foggy lenses

Fogging lenses are caused by moisture build-up inside the eyewear. Though there is no specific safety mandate to prevent moisture from fogging the lenses, high-quality safety lenses are fog- resistant and include technology that decreases the amount of moisture buildup inside the eyewear.

Uncomfortable fit

Heard most often when wearing sealed safety eyewear is indicated, poor fitting, bulky or weighty safety glasses are common reasons why workers may choose not to put them on. In order to provide maximum comfort for long-term use, sealed safety eyewear should be fitted with contoured foam around the edges, inserts that can preferably be removed and replaced if needed. For sealed glasses, anti-fog technology is even more important.

The benefits of wearing high-quality safety eyewear

Though it may be tempting to opt for inferior quality safety eyewear, outfitting yourself or your workforce with good-quality safety glasses is not much more expensive than purchasing safety eyewear of lesser quality. Simply put, if the glasses fit and perform as they should, your workers won’t have a problem wearing them – and that can only be a good thing. 

The many benefits of quality safety eyewear include:

Risk reduction: if your workers actually wear the safety glasses, you will reduce your liability by a significant amount, not to mention the incidence of eye injury will also be greatly reduced.

Save money: quality safety eyewear is only slightly more expensive than the cheap safety glasses, and the money you’ll save on worker’s compensation and time lost due to injury will deliver value back to your bottom line.

Better compliance: if the glasses fit, don’t fog up, are lightweight and provide clear, unobstructed vision, you can likely look forward to greater compliance across the board. 

Bottom line

Each and every day, more than 2,000 eye injuries happen on the job. 40% of these happen in the manufacturing, construction or mining sectors. These injuries cost employers upwards of $300M every single year, and many could have been prevented by wearing eye protection.

Proper safety eyewear can prevent 9 out of 10 workplace eye injuries, and save employers the expense of providing medical treatment, compensation, and the negative impact of lost work hours.

Safety Workwear: your workplace safety headquarters

If you would like to find out more about safety eyewear for yourself or for your crew, drop us a line today, and check this space often for more on-the-job safety tips.