Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Eye Protection

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Eye Protection

PPE—Eye Protection

Eye protection is one of the easiest and least expensive OSHA safety requirements to implement, yet each year thousands of workers injure their eyes or lose their sight, not because they didn’t have proper eye protection, but because they chose not to wear it.

For this reason, and because the opportunities for being injured in the workplace are great, training in this area is crucial.

Eye Hazards

The main hazards to the eyes in the workplace include the following:

• Injurious gases, vapors and liquids.
• Dusts or powders, fumes and mists.
• Flying particles or objects.
• Splashing metals.
• Heat, glare and ultraviolet and infrared rays.
• Lasers
• Electrical Hazards.

Anytime machines or operations present potential eye injury from physical, chemical or radiation elements, your company must select, provide, maintain and require affected employees to use appropriate eye protection.

Eye protection must be:

• Adequate for the environment.
• Reasonably comfortable.
• Snug without interfering with the movements of the wearer.
• Durable
• Capable of being disinfected and cleaned.

Employees who wear prescription lenses must wear:

• Spectacles whose protective lenses provide optical correction;
• Goggles can be worn over corrective spectacles without disturbing the adjustment of the spectacles; or
• Goggles that incorporate corrective lenses mounted behind the protective lenses.

Employee Training

Under 29 CFR 1910.132 General requirements, OSHA requires that employers provide training to each employee who must use PPE. That training should include details of:

• When PPE is necessary.
• What PPE is necessary.
• How to properly don, doff, adjust and wear PPE.
• The limitations of PPE.
• The proper care, maintenance, useful life and disposal of PPE.

Training Tips

Using the employee handout, review the requirements for eye protection.

Show the types of eye protection and how to wear and care for them.

Review the location of eyewash stations and explain their use.

For more information see:

• 29 CFR 1910.133—Eye and Face Protection
• ANZI Z87.1-1989—Occupational and Educational Eye and Face Protection

PPE—Eye ProtectionHandout

It can only take a moment for you to lose your sight. Thousands of people are blinded each year from work-related eye injuries that could have been prevented with the proper selection and use of eye and face protection. Eye injuries alone cost more than $300 million per year in lost production time, medical expenses, and worker compensation.

OSHA requires employers to ensure the safety of all employees in the work environment. Eye and face protection must be provided whenever necessary to protect against chemical, environmental, radiological or mechanical irritants and hazards.

Because of workplace hazards, OSHA requires that employers supply appropriate eye protection. However, the employees must take responsibility and use the personal protective equipment (PPE) that is provided.

Employer Responsibilities

Your employer must ensure that:

• All workers required to wear eye protection understand how to use it so that it offers the most protection.
• These workers must demonstrate understanding of the training and the ability to use it properly before being allowed to perform work requiring its use.

Employee Responsibilities

As an employee who is required to wear eye protection, you must:

• Understand how to use the required PPE.
• Know how to properly clean and maintain the PPE.
• Know the locations of and how to use the eyewash stations.

What Must Eye Protection Do?

At a minimum, eye protection must:

• Adequately protect against the particular hazards for which they are designed.
• Be reasonably comfortable when worn under the designated conditions.
• Fit snugly withoutinterfering with movements or vision of the wearer.
• Be durable.
• Be capable of being disinfected.
• Be easily cleanable.
• Be kept clean and in good repair.
  

PPE—Eye Protection Sign–Off Sheet

The employees of ______Company Name______, have taken part in a training session PPE—Eye Protection. The session covered:

• When eye protection is necessary and the potential eye injuries that can occur.
• What eye protection is necessary.
• The limitations of the eye protection.
• Location and use of eyewash stations.

______

Supervisor’s Signature