Eye injuries in the workplace are very common, with about 20,000 eye injuries occurring each year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). About one third of these injuries are treated in hospital emergency departments and often require one or more days of lost work. Eye injuries not only cause pain and suffering, but the costs are more than eye opening, adding up to $300 million annually in worker compensation, medical expenses, and lost production time, according to OSHA.
Eye injuries in the workplace are very common, with about 2,000 eye injuries occurring each day, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). However, many experts believe that the right eye protection can lessen the severity or even prevent 90 percent of eye injuries.
Let’s focus on eye protection. It’s clear to me that some employers get it. They provide the proper training and use of protective eyewear.
Unfortunately, the injury statistics tell us that so many employers don’t get it, which puts their employees (and their bottom line) at risk.
The purpose of today’s safety message is about eye protection. I'm sharing this information to help our readers see clearly the importance of protecting the eyes of your workers.
Each year thousands of employees are blinded from work related eye injuries. These injuries add up to $300 million in worker compensation, medical expenses, and lost time in production. To prevent eye injuries for your workers, eye protection must be available. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has specific standards dealing with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Workers must be provided eye protection when hazards such as chemical, optical radiation, impact, heat, and dust are present.
Imagine your employees are working with chemicals when something goes wrong. Maybe it’s a slip or a splash, but in an instant, chemicals splatter the eyes or the skin. And in that instant, the employee can sustain severe damage if the employee and his/her coworkers don’t act quickly.
Welcome to this week's final installment of the Arbill blog series Reconsidered Safety Posts. Over this past week, we've looked back at a series of posts on categories of common workplace accidents: Slips, Trips And Falls and Hands And Gloves.
