Vision of Safety
Our eyesight is precious and demands the selection and provision of high quality safety eyewear.
This eyewear needs to protect our eyes and also needs to enhance compliance due to its design to provide excellent comfort and fit.
It’s clear that the provision of high quality protective equipment can significantly reduce the real cost of personal injury while enabling more people to return to their families safe at the end of the working day.
Despite the safety eyewear the frequency of incidents directly affecting the eyes and eyesight remains high. The evidence suggests that it is likely to be inappropriate safety eyewear used and worn incorrectly type.
Eye injuries sustained in the workplace can be caused by a multitude of factors including the ingress of airborne materials, chemical splash and the direct impact from any number of materials from the environment such as ultra violet light and glare.
Safety eyewear is primarily classified as either spectacles or goggles and for very good reason – it is about the level of impact protection each provides. Safety goggles are equally important so that the task involved helps stop the risk of chemicals or molten metal splash.
So how do you choose the right safety eyewear?
Employers have a duty of care to ensure that staff are provided with the correct PPE. You need to remember 1 size does not fit all. It is understandable that companies might prefer to standardise on a few items but the chances that the employees will not benefit and could also be adding further risk to themselves. Heads and facial shapes differ widely. Personal involvement in this process not only ensures a proper fit which is crucial for the wearers safety it also increases the likelihood that the staff member will wear them.
The effects of UV on the skin are well known however the effect on our eyes is not very well recognised. So please ensure your safety eye wear protects you from UV rays.
Due to the way that safety glasses or goggles fit close to the head keeping particles out sometimes moisture builds up and can cause the lens to start fogging. You need to choose the coating that suits you and your work.
Some can offer fog and scratch resistance.
When wearability is designed into safety eyewear, employees are more likely to keep and use them if they are involved in the choosing of their protective eyewear.
It is always recommended that a risk assessment is carried out on the work task and using the hierarchy control measures to make this task safe. Sometimes the work can be changed to avoid the risk or maybe some small changes can be made. PPE should always be a last resort.
If you need any further information please contact joanne@chestnutassociates.co.uk
