Our eyes are one of our most important organs but also one of our most fragile. Sight is arguably our most important sensory process, critical to navigating our modern lifestyles. We rely on sight when we walk and drive, when we read and write, and when we work and play.
There are increasing levels of exposure to heat and light, dust and chemicals, as well as biological contaminants in a wide variety of industrial and commercial workplace settings. These and other factors may lead to range of eye injuries, from simple eyestrain to severe eye damage making day-to-day activities more challenging or changing someone’s life completely.
Types of Eye Risk
Potential eye hazards are present in nearly every industry. Workplace eye injuries send 300,000 people to the ER each year in the US, according to the CDC. Eye injuries alone cost more than $300 million per year in lost production time, medical expenses and worker compensation in the U.S., reports the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Construction
Constructions sites encompass many of the dangers listed above. Sharp tools and materials are everywhere, being used and moved in potentially unpredictable ways. Construction sites are extremely dusty environments with many forms of dangerous particulate matter. Mandatory use of hard hats help protect workers but for the best defence against workplace hazards eye protection is also essential.
“In construction, more than 10,600 eye injuries each year force workers to miss work. Construction has a much higher rate of eye injuries than any other industry,” says The Center for Construction Research and Training. While just over 20% of workplace eye injuries come from the construction sector, according to the BLS. “The [construction] work site itself is a hazard,” claims Johnson, safety manager for Black & Veatch and a member of ASSE’s Construction Practice Specialty Group.
Manufacturing
The manufacturing industry is broad and diverse but generally involves the assembly and finishing of physical products in the presence of human workers. Almost half the injured workers were employed in manufacturing in one way or another. While over 30% of the total eye injuries were working as operatives of assemblers, sanders, and grinding machines, according to the BLS.
The eyes of workers in manufacturing facilities may be at risk of impact by tools, machinery or materials. Factories can be full of dust and other particles that can be dangerous when in contact with eyes. There may also be harmful chemicals from the manufacturing or cleaning processes. While bright lights often bombard the eyes with harmful blue light frequencies for long hours.
Automotive
According to the BLS, more than 40% of workplace eye injuries occurred among craft workers, like mechanics, repairers, carpenters, and plumbers. A large section of this comes from automotive repair where welding, for example, can cause an acute condition called photokeratitis if the eyes are not protected. Not only are these workshops dangerous environments, they also have a reputation for a relaxed approach to eye safety.
“Many automotive mechanics are never taught the basics of safety,” says George Swartz, former safety director for Midas International. “Eye injuries may be the most common mishap in the business. Garages are often full of sparks flying from cutting torches and airborne pieces of metal launched from bench grinders, but most mechanics rely on nothing more than their eyelids for protection. A lot of guys just close their eyes while they’re welding,” continued Swartz.
Healthcare
Healthcare may not be the first industry you think of for eye injury hazards. However, healthcare facilities present the highest risks for viral and bacterial infections that can be caught through the eyes. Surgeons, who work with the open wounds of patients, already wear protective eyewear as a rule but this has not spread to other healthcare workers as much as the risk demands.
Healthcare workers are also exposed to bright lights for long hours as they go about their work. As discussed, the blue light frequencies emitted by bright lights and screens have serious short and long term implications for health. Be it for light or biological dangers, healthcare facilities like hospitals are dynamic environments where eye protection is important at all times.
Office
The key danger to the eye health of office workers is high levels of exposure to blue light. Time spent looking at screens, especially computer screen increases significantly in many office based professions. In many offices it has become normal for employees to spend their whole working day looking at computer screens.
Computer monitors and other electronic screens emit approximately 35% blue light, that’s 10% more than is emitted by the midday sun. Furthermore, many people now work on a computer, spend breaks on a smartphone, and the evening watching television. These high levels of exposure to blue light from screens can have serious and potentially irreversible impacts on eye and general health.
