Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Eye Protection
Most eye injuries in Australia are minor, but some workplace accidents can result in serious injury, vision loss or blindness. Any job that involves airborne particles or hazardous substances carries a risk of eye injury. The eye is extremely delicate and permanent vision loss can result from a relatively minor injury.
The risk of workplace eye injuries is reduced if proper prevention measures are followed. Pay attention to your working environment and always wear appropriate eye protection when you are required to work around or do high-risk work.
In our last article we wrote about What Causes Eye Injuries. This article we are going to address Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Eye Protection.
PPE For Eye Protection
Safety Glasses
- Safety Glasses are a requirement for most tasks.
- Safety glasses with side shields are a good form of eye protection for general use to prevent flying debris and or objects from coming into contact with your eyes.
Safety Goggles
- When using compressed air or handling harmful chemicals you should wear safety goggles.
- Goggles offer superior protection from small flying debris and particles as well as chemical splashes.
Face Shields
- When grinding, changing gas or changing batteries wear a face shield along with safety glasses or goggles.
- This gives additional protection to your face during these types of tasks.
Welding Helmets
- When welding you have the risk of harmful rays impacting your eyes from a short distance.
- That is why special tinted welding helmets are required. They not only protect your face from flying objects, but your eyes from the rays.
Jobs that pose a high risk for eye injury include those that involve:
- Chemicals
- Dusty environments
- Excessively bright lights or UV lights
- Compressed air
- Machines or tools that chip, chisel, cut, drill, grind, hammer, sand, smelt, spray or weld.
You only get issued one set of eyes so look after them.