How Much Eye Protection is Enough?
Too many workers who wear eye protection still suffer injuries. Here’s help on how to determine when more protection is needed. Most safety professionals agree that workplace eye injuries are preventable. Yet, OSHA estimates that 1,000 eye injuries occur every day in U.S. workplaces, at an annual cost of $300 million in lost production time, medical expenses and workers’ compensation. OSHA lists two major reasons for eye injuries at work: not wearing eye protection or wearing the wrong kind of protection for the job. A Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey of workers who suffered eye injuries revealed that nearly three out of five were not wearing eye protection at the time of the accident. These workers most often reported that they believed protection was not required for the situation. About 40 percent of the injured workers surveyed by BLS were wearing some form of protective eyewear when the accident occurred. More than 90 percent of the injuries to workers