Eye Safety at Work

When we think about workplace injuries, we tend to think about things like back injuries and carpel tunnel syndrome. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 2,000 U.S. workers experience a job-related eye injury that requires medical treatment. About a third of those are bad enough to require hospital ER treatments and more than 100 result in one or more days of lost work. The Eye Care Council estimates those injuries cost businesses $300 million each year in medical bills, compensation and downtime. Computers are becoming a real problem for businesses. With about half the country’s workforce using computers regularly, some 50 percent have experienced vision problems related to computer use. The Vision Council has released a new report, “Eye Safety At-a-Glance,” focused on protecting vision at work. According to the report, “Perhaps most devastating is the fact that while vision loss is among the top 10 disabilities among American adults aged 18 years and older, 90 percent of eye injuries are preventable.” The report provides a list of jobs that put worker at a high risk for injury and the kind of protective eyewear that should be used. Many injuries are the result of wearing either no protective eyewear or the wrong kind. Check out the report and share it with your employees or co-workers to ensure you’re doing all you can to keep eye injuries at a minimum.