Test your knowledge of eye safety during Eye Injury Prevention Month¹ (answers below):

Most important, can you identify the three basic steps to preventing an eye injury at work?

• Know…
• Eliminate…
• Use…

What can cause eye damage?

• dust
• objects
• sun
• particles
• chemicals
• infectious diseases
• all of the above

Who are more likely to sustain an eye injury?

• men
• women

Data show that how many people who sustained eye injuries were not wearing eyewear of any kind at the time of injury?

• more than 38%
• more than 58%
• more than 78%

If you are working in an area that has particles, flying objects or dust, what feature should your safety glasses have?

• rubber tips
• side shields
• prescription lenses
• full-face protection

What does “Z87” indicate?

ANSWERS:
1) Know the eye safety dangers of your job. Eliminate the hazards before you start the work, i.e., use machine guarding, work screens or other engineering controls. Use proper eye protection. ¹

2) all of the above ²

3) men - Although men were nearly twice as likely as women to experience an occupational injury or illness requiring days away from work, men made up an even greater proportion—81%—of eye injuries. ³

4) more than 78% – data from the Eye Injury Snapshot (conducted by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Ocular Trauma). ⁴

5) side shields– wrap-around styles of safety glasses can also provide side protection ⁵

6) It means that the eyewear protection product with that marking conforms to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for eye protection devices (including their design, construction, and testing), which is enforced by OSHA for all safety glasses, goggles, and face shields used by employees under its jurisdiction. ⁶

¹  Eye Injuries in the Workplace

²  CDC (Eye Protection for Infection Control)

³  BLS (Workplace Injuries Involving the Eyes, 2008)

⁴  Preventing Eye Injuries

⁵  Eye Safety Tool Box Talk – Instructor’s Guide (NIOSH)

⁶  ANSI Safety Glasses’ Standards