• This training session discusses eye protection in the workplace.
• Your vision is vitally important—think about what would happen if you
lost it. That’s why it’s so important to understand eye hazards on the
job, and to protect your eyes from these hazards whenever and wherever
they are present.
1
The main objective of this session is to help protect your eyes, and your
vision, while at work. Specifically, by the end of the session, you will be
able to:
• Identify potential eye hazards;
• Prevent eye injuries by wearing protective eyewear;
• Use, maintain, and inspect proper protective eyewear; and
• Use appropriate first aid for emergencies involving eye injuries.
2
Eye injury statistics demonstrate how important it is to take eye protection
seriously.
• Each day, more than 2,000 workers suffer serious eye injuries. Each
year, about 100,000 of these injuries result in temporary or permanent
vision loss. These statistics are provided by Prevent Blindness America,
a national nonprofit organization.
• About 62,000 eye injuries each year result in at least one lost
workday.
• Finally, studies indicate that proper eye protection can reduce the
number and severity of eye injuries in 90 percent of accidents.
3
Eye hazards depend on the type of work you do, but they are very common
in the workplace. Examples include:
• Flying objects;
• Harmful dust particles;
• Chemical splashing or spraying;
• High-intensity heat or light;
• Welding, brazing, and torch cutting; and
• Direct or reflected sunlight.
We’ll be discussing these hazards, and what you can do to protect yourself
against them, on the next few slides.
4
Here are ways to protect yourself against the hazards of flying objects.
• Flying objects present an impact hazard to the lens of your eye.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70 percent of serious eye
injuries are caused by flying or falling objects, and 60 percent of these
objects are smaller than the head of a pin. These types of objects
include:
– Fragments, chips, particles, sand, and dirt.
Take a moment to think about the kinds of flying objects in your workplace
that can be an eye hazard.
• Work processes that can create a flying object hazard include:
– Chipping, grinding, masonry work, woodworking, sawing, drilling,
chiseling, riveting, and sanding.
Can you think of the work processes in this workplace that can create flying
objects?
• Eye protection for flying object hazards include:
– Safety glasses with side protection for many jobs; safety goggles are
preferred for jobs with many flying objects; and a face shield might be
required if there are flying objects that could injure your face as well as
your eyes.
5
Dust hazards can be serious in certain situations. Dust particles don’t
usually fly at you, but they can easily get into your eyes and cause problems.
• The hazards include walking into a cloud of floating dust particles,
resulting in eye irritation, redness, and abrasion. The cause of these
particles could be:
– Wood dust, foam dust, or soot.
You can probably think of dust hazards like these in your workplace.
• Work processes that create dust hazards include:
– Woodworking, buffing, and cleaning with air wands and brooms.
• Eye protection for dust hazards is:
– Primarily goggles or some sort of eyewear that creates a seal around the
eyes.
The more hazardous the dust, the more the safety eyewear needs to fit
tightly to your face.
6
Chemical hazards to your eyes are a significant concern if you work with
chemicals. Virtually any kind of chemical can injure your eyes.
• The hazard comes from the possibility of splashing, spraying, or mists
that cause burning, pain, or blurred vision.
– Acids and caustics, of course, can severely burn your eyes. Solvents can
damage your eyes in many ways, depending on the type of solvent.
• Work processes that can cause chemical hazards to your eyes include:
– Virtually any job that requires you to work with chemicals or chemical
processes.
Think about the type of jobs you do that have chemical hazards.
• Eye protection is very important to protect against chemical hazards:
– Chemical-resistant goggles are a must if you are working with any liquid
chemical that could splash or spray into your face and eyes.
– A face shield worn over goggles is required if you are working with highly
dangerous chemicals such as acids, or in situations with the potential for
severe exposure.
7
Heat is an eye hazard that you might not have thought of immediately.
• The hazard from heat comes from :
– Steam, hot liquid, hot air, or flame that causes pain, eyelid burns, and
blurred vision.
• Work processes that could create a heat hazard include:
– Furnace operations; pouring or casting molten metals; and any other kind of
high-temperature operations.
• To guard against heat hazards, wear eye protection. For operations that
could cause splashing of hot material into your eyes and face, wear
goggles under a face shield. For operations that do not present a
splashing hazard, wear a protective screen or a reflective face shield that
will keep extreme heat from your eyes.
8
Welding, brazing, and torch cutting create a number of potential eye
hazards.
• Welder’s flash or flying sparks cause pain, burns, and extreme
sensitivity. Welder’s flash occurs when the eyes are overexposed to the
intense light of welding operations. This can occur when welders strike
the arc a split second before dropping their face shield or hood over their
eyes. In addition, the skin or eyes can be burned from intense light and
heat. Flying sparks, metal fragments, or slag can enter the eye.
• The work process that creates these hazards is any kind of welding
operation.
– Even walking past a welding operation and observing it can cause an eye
injury.
• For eye protection when welding, use:
– A welder’s face shield, which offers the best protection against
intense light.
– Sunglasses are totally inadequate for protection.
9
A final eye hazard to watch out for is sunlight.
• Overexposure to direct or reflected sunlight can cause:
– Retinal burns, blurred vision, pain, and even loss of eyesight.
• Work processes that can create this hazard include:
– Any job working outside in the sunlight, especially working near water
where the sunlight can be reflected into your eyes, even when looking
down.
• Eye protection for sunlight hazards is pretty basic:
– A pair of high-quality sunglasses and a hat.
10
• Do you have any questions about the types of eye hazards you might
find in the workplace, and about eye protection for specific work
processes?
• It is important for your safety that you understand eye hazards and the
eye protection you should use for specific processes.
11
Now we’ll discuss the selection, use, and care of protective eyewear that can
protect you from eye injuries.
Use proper protective eyewear whenever there is the possibility of eye
hazards.
• Ninety percent of occupational eye injuries could have been avoided
with proper protective eyewear, according to OSHA. Note the word
“proper” – many injuries have occurred when people thought they were
wearing proper eyewear, but in fact were not.
• OSHA found that many of the injured workers believed that protective
eyewear was not necessary in their particular work situation.
• Follow all company rules for wearing eye protection. We want to make
sure that you know when it is necessary to wear eye protection, and
know what kind of eyewear to use for each potentially hazardous
situation.
12
Proper protective eyewear must meet certain standards.
• It must comply with American National Standards Institute, or “ANSI,”
standard Z87.1. This means the eye protection has met certain standards
for resisting impacts, shattering, and chemicals.
• Proper eye protection equipment will be marked with “Z87” to show
that they meet the ANSI standard. Look for this marking on all
protective eyewear.
• Normal sunglasses or prescription glasses usually do not meet the ANSI
standard. These could shatter or break if struck by a flying object, and
cause additional eye injuries.
13
Choosing the right eye protection for the particular person and the particular
job is very important. The first step is to determine what kind of protective
eyewear should be used for the job. Then:
• Fit the eyewear to the person who will be wearing it. Protective
eyewear must fit well to protect properly and be comfortable.
• Use high-quality eyewear; it will last longer and protect better.
• Ensure good fit and comfort. If it doesn’t fit well, it won’t provide
complete protection, and you will be inclined to remove it to make
adjustments, or not wear it at all.
• Lens options include antifog, antiglare, indoor/outdoor lenses, and
different colors or tints. Your supervisor will let you know if there is a
particular kind of lens you should use.
14
Always maintain your eyewear properly.
• Cleaning stations include a squirt bottle of cleaning solution and some
lint-free paper towels. Use them frequently. You can also use mild soap
and water to clean protective eyewear.
• Use holders or cases to protect the eyewear when not in use. Most highquality eyewear comes with cases.
• Get new eyewear whenever necessary. When lenses are scratched or
cracked, they are no longer safe. Note that some eyewear have
removable lenses that can be replaced without having to replace the
entire frame.
15
Routinely inspect your protective eyewear.
• Eyewear should be inspected before each use.
• Check for cracked lenses or face shields, and replace if necessary.
• Replace scratched lenses or shields if they impair your vision.
• Also check for loose frames and nose pieces.
• Finally, fit test your eyewear before each use. Make sure there has been
no damage that prevents a proper fit.
16
If you already wear prescription eyewear, there are some important safety
points to know.
• The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health now
recommends that contact lenses may be worn with appropriate PPE
when handling hazardous chemicals provided that certain guidelines are
followed and a hazard evaluation is performed. However, contact lenses
may not be safe in radiation, high-dust or high-particulate environments.
• Prescription safety glasses and goggles are available. These will meet
the ANSI Z87 standard as well as your prescription requirements.
• Overglasses or partial face shields are also options as barriers to eye
hazards. These are designed to fit over your normal prescription glasses.
17
Eyewash stations are required by OSHA in areas that use large quantities of
hazardous chemicals—especially corrosives—that could be splashed or
sprayed into your eyes.
• Chemical splashes require immediate first aid. This can make the
difference between a temporary injury and permanent blindness.
• Eyewash stations must be located within 10 feet, or 10 seconds travel
time, of a work process that uses hazardous chemicals that could be
splashed or sprayed into your eyes.
• Always flush your eyes for at least 15 minutes after your eyes have been
exposed to a hazardous chemical.
18
• Do you have any questions about selecting proper eyewear?
• Do you feel you understand what you need to know about using
protective eyewear and maintaining and inspecting it?
• Do you understand about first aid for possible eye injuries?
19
• Assess the work you are doing for possible eye hazards. Whether at
work or at home, ask yourself if there is the potential for eye injury from
flying objects, dust, chemicals, heat, or other hazards.
• Select the appropriate eye protection for the job. Remember, for
example, that a face shield is for extra protection to wear over safety
glasses or goggles, not a replacement for glasses or goggles.
• Wear your eye protection at all times whenever there may be a hazard.
It only takes a split second for an eye injury to occur.
• Finally, don’t become an eye injury statistic. Using the right protective
eyewear whenever you need it will protect you from eye injuries.
This concludes this training session on Eye Protection.
20