People in the construction industry should be aware that they are susceptible to suffering eye injuries, at any time. Two leading causes of these injuries are impact and flying objects, including shards or shards of glass or metal from tools or unfinished products.
Eye protection is extremely important for any industry, but in the construction industry, it becomes even more important. The most common injuries in the construction and manufacturing industry are eye injuries which could be avoided by the proper use of prescription safety glasses.
This article will discuss one of the most important construction safety issues and how you can increase eye protection in the construction industry.
Table of Contents
Understand the risk of eye injuries
The most common type of injury sustained by workers in this industry is a chemical splash injury. This occurs when chemicals are splashed into the eyes while handling them. These chemicals may include acids, solvents and other liquids that can irritate or burn your eyes if they come into contact with them.
Use safety signs to promote and enforce safety
Safety signs can be placed throughout your work site as reminders that all workers are required to wear eye protection whenever they’re working near power tools or other machines with harmful emissions. These signs should be placed at entrances to rooms where workers may be exposed to dangerous fumes or dust particles. They should also be placed near areas where workers may need to use hand tools or equipment that could injure their eyes if safety glasses aren’t worn properly (i.e., hammering nails).
Evaluate your current eye safety program
Before you begin implementing new policies or procedures, it’s important to take an honest look at what your current program is and how effective it is. Take stock of the following areas:
Employee awareness of safety requirements — Do employees know about their obligation to wear eye protection?
Enforcement — Are there consequences for those who don’t wear their safety glasses? If so, what are they?
Availability — How easily can your employees get their hands on eye protection? Is there enough inventory on hand? Do they have access to clean pairs as needed?
Make eye safety a part of the culture
Construction sites can be loud and chaotic places. Workers are often distracted by radios, cell phones or other noise sources. In order to protect their vision, they need to be reminded regularly that they need to wear proper safety equipment at all times.
They also need to be encouraged to wear protective glasses even when they’re working indoors so that they don’t get used to wearing them only when they’re outside on a job site.
Encourage workers to wear sunglasses with side shields when they’re not on the job site as well as goggles while working on projects that require close attention like operating heavy machinery or doing demolition work where debris may fly off into their eyes unexpectedly.
Educate workers on eye protection and safety
The first step in increasing eye protection is educating all employees about the risks of working in construction and how to protect themselves against those risks. Make sure that everyone knows how to wear their safety equipment properly and how to use it appropriately.
Keep an inventory of all safety equipment that you provide so that you can quickly replace anything that gets lost or damaged during use.
Provide appropriate eye protection for all operations
Workers should wear protective goggles or glasses when working with power tools such as saws, drills and sanders. These tools can produce debris that can be harmful to your eyes so it’s important that you protect them with proper eye protection whenever possible.
Fit eyewear for individuals
Make sure that everyone who works for you wears appropriate safety gear, including safety glasses or goggles when needed. Be sure that your employees know how to properly wear their eyewear before sending them on their way so they don’t risk damaging their eyes further by wearing improperly fitting or damaged glasses or goggles.
Properly Supervise and Train
If they don’t know how to use equipment properly, they may suffer injuries when they are working with dangerous tools such as grinders, saws and hammers. You should teach them how to use these tools safely by showing them how to operate them correctly — this will help prevent injuries and improve productivity at work.
Conclusion
To increase eye protection in the construction industry, employers must be vigilant in their responsibilities, provide the necessary Personal Protective Equipment and assure that they are used. The key objective is to reduce employee risk of harm to the eyes.
