EYE INJURIES – THE RESULTS OF EYE INJURIES ARE NOT INCONSEQUENTIAL!
The important of the eyes:
Eyes are like windows that carried light into the body and windows of the soul. They are the parts of our body that perceive light and the lamp of the body. If the eyes are good, the whole body will be full of light. But if the eyes are bad, the whole body will be full of darkness. They allow us to see the world and to understand how objects relate to each other, to distinguish the distance of objects, to determine their color and shape. Just close our eyes and imagine we have not seen ever the world and anything, we will not have an idea with what it looks like when we only feel it. Eyes are very important for the human body. It helps the human body to do its tasks with coordination. Without it, a man won't be able to see the beauty of this wonderful world. Without eyes, the five basic senses would not be complete.
Medical science can replace a lot of things on and in our body, but if something happens to our eyes, there is no quick fix. When our eyes are gone, they are gone forever. A company might issue us tools, safety equipment, and some kind of protective clothing, but there is one thing that cannot be issued – a new set of eyes. Eyes are really important.
Although the working environment has been improved but eye injury still persist and even at high proportion of eye related injuries and diseases. Especially, occupational accident in manufacturing workplace is the leading cause of eye trauma and generates the greatest number of eye injuries. It is reported that millions of eye injuries occur in the workplace each year around the globe.
I have been assessing hundreds of suppliers across regions and it is sad to witness that workplace eye safety has been severely ignored and neglected by related stakeholders. This inspired me to write this sharing in the hope that the related stakeholders would pay more attention to this single aspect of occupational health and safety (OHS).
The common eye injuries at work and its consequences:
Occupational eye injury commonly happened in the workplace. Consequently, the eye injury affects both visual functions and facial beauty or aesthetics such as visual impairment, blindness, bad scars on the eyes, even eyes missing. Depending on the degree of injury will result to the loss of vision from mild to severe or permanent blindness if the management and/or workers neglect just for a second, do not comply with safety rules and regulations, do not install and use the tools properly, do not wear appropriate and proper eye personal protective equipment and so forth.
Hazards in the workplace setting can range from dirt or metal particles to corrosive chemicals, welding light and falling or exploding debris. Below are the common eye injuries at work that happened in majority of industries:
- Eye striking injury: usually caused by blunt objects that strike into the eye, such as wood, battery explosion, crank, elastic, hook and so forth. This type of trauma causes damage to the eye and eye surroundings such as hematoma, eye swelling and puffy, black eye, swollen eyelid, eye bleeding, haemorrhagic conjunctivitis, rupture in the corner of the eyes, cornea… and the eye organizations such as vitreous body, retina, optic nerve and so forth
- Eye penetrating trauma: usually hit by sharp objects such as bolts, screws, needles, knives, scissors, stone grinders, piece of grinding metal or pounding metal on metal, metal flake, iron stick, rod, nails… or hit by pieces of fractured needles and metal from turnings, and flying particles such as dust, dirt, sands, sawdust, stones, , and so forth. This type of trauma causes damage to the eyes such as corneal abrasions, eye components broken, eyelid skin torn, eye tear path broken, crystalline lens broken, iris torn, sclera torn…and vitreous body (filled with vitreous humor) of the eyes broken. This injury can leave foreign objects inside the eye.
- Eye chemical burns: commonly caused by chemicals, substances, glue, cleaning agents, fertilizers, heat. Depending on the substance, the effects of chemical exposures causing eye injuries can range from minor irritation and red eyes to serious eye damage and even blindness. Chemical exposures and burns are usually caused by a splash of liquid getting in the eye and can be caused in other ways as well, such as by rubbing the eyes and transferring a chemical from hands to eyes or by getting sprayed in the eye by hair spray or other aerosols. This type of trauma causes heavy damage to the eyelids, iris, sclera, cornea, surrounding conjunctiva or severe visual loss, blindness, shrink eye labels and so forth.
- Eye flash burns: caused by radiation, x-ray, ultraviolet rays, welding arc, sparks from welding and cutting. Few seconds of intently watching the arc can lead to several hours of extreme pain. The ultraviolet rays lead to a radiation burn on the surface of the cornea, which causes cells to slough off, leaving bare nerve endings that is tremendously sensitive. Other symptoms may include light sensitivity, blurred vision, watery or bloodshot eyes and a sensation of sand in the eye.
Why eyes get injured:
It is a complicated problem and eyes get injured from different sources and due to various causes such as unsafe equipment and tools, the machines, equipment, tools have no safety guards or inappropriate safety guards installed, ignorance, negligence, lax enforcement, language barriers, unfit safety glasses or eye protection that cause vision difficulties, which leads to inefficiency and hazards exposure, inadequate proper and formal safety training, no emergency plan in place in case of an accident, no first aid kit at the workplace, do not know what hospital to call when accident happened. In most of the cases, although workers may have a working knowledge of the materials they use, such as chemicals, they often don’t know how to use them safely and they don’t know what to do if there is an accident, and so forth.
How can eye injuries be prevented?
The results of eye injuries are not inconsequential: beyond the individual tragedies, eye injuries cost hundred to million in lost production time, medical expenses and workers’ compensation. Further, each of us has only one pair of eyes. Do not risk spending the rest of our life with the ultimate consequence of blindness. It needs a good cooperation between the management and employees, if the company makes effort to protect the employees’ eyes and these efforts will not be effective unless employees cooperate. Treatment of eye injuries is complex, expensive and time consuming but the results are not as expected. Injury prevention, eye protection is the most effective and practical measures.
Employers should eliminate eye hazards and risks at work; make sure the safety guards are properly installed to protect the eyes of the employees; never neglect employees’ eye protection just because a specific job does not demand it. This is where the management should use common sense and exercise good safety practices to provide the employees with that extra margin of safety for their eyes; should develop internal rules demanding the use of eye protection on certain jobs and make sure different jobs and locations require different kinds of eye protection; should provide workers with suitable eye protection. To be effective, the eyewear must be appropriate type for the hazard encountered and properly fitted; better and effective training and education to the employees on the eye protection, what types should be used, when, where and how; should have a sound emergency plan in place in case of eye accident; steps should be taken to make sure the employees eye safety; install and well maintain first aid kit.
Employees should always wear effective and appropriate eye protection as being told and instructed such as types of eye protection should be worn, when and where eye protection should be worn. The employees are the only person who can make sure the proper eye protection worn at the necessary and required time; if there is any doubt in mind about the eye protection needed on any job or in any location, the employees should consult their supervisor or the person in charge.
Posted by: July 12, 2013
Written by: Huong Vu
Compliance, CSR and Sustainability Advisor