Page 48 - Occupational Health & Safety, December 2018

VISION PROTECTION
Getting Eye and Face Protection Right
Having an eye and face protection program in place will boost the chances employees will use their PPE correctly.
BY JERRY LAWS
Vision protection is paramount for workers in many industries, from construction and manufacturing to warehousing, transporta- tion, health care, maritime, and even land- scaping and professional sports. OSHA’s eye and face protection standard, 29 CFR 1910.133, explains when eye and face PPE should be used: when workers are exposed to eye or face hazards such as flying objects, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liq- uids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially harmful light radiation. Employers must provide this PPE for their workers who are exposed to potential eye inju- ries during their work, if work practice or engineering controls have not eliminated the risk of injury.
And employee training is required before eye and face protection is used. Such training must be provid- ed to employees who are required to use eye and face protection—OSHA points out1 it must be comprehen- sive, understandable, and recur annually, and more often if necessary. At a minimum, it should address:
■ Why the eye and face PPE is necessary
■ How improper fit, use, or maintenance can compromise its protections
■ Limitations and capabilities of the PPE
■ How to inspect, put on, and remove
■ Maintenance and storage
Recognition of medical signs and symptoms that may limit or prevent effective use
■ General requirements of OSHA’s eye and face protection standard
Developing and implementing an eye and face protection program is recommended because having one will boost the chances employees will use their PPE correctly. We know this doesn’t always happen, because there are thousands of eye injuries every day in the United States, about 90 percent of which are ful- ly preventable, Prevent Blindness has reported. Most of those aren’t occupational injuries, but the number of them that occur at workplaces is significant. In 2014, there were 20,910 occupational eye injuries and 68,940 work-related head injuries in private industry, the Bureau of Labor Statistics2 reported. BLS reported 3,530 of the 2014 occupational eye injuries occurred in the construction industry, 4,900 of them occurred in manufacturing, and 1,150 occurred in transporta- tion and warehousing.
44 Occupational Health & Safety | DECEMBER 2018
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