This material is for training purposes only. Its purpose is to inform Oregon employers of best practices in occupational safety and health and general Oregon OSHA compliance requirements. This material is not a substitute for any provision of the Oregon Safety Employment Act or any standards issued by Oregon OSHA. For more information on this online course and other OR-OSHA online training, visit the Online Course Catalog.

MODULE THREE: EYE AND FACE PROTECTION

Introduction

Every day an estimated 1,000 eye injuries occur in American workplaces

The financial cost of these injuries is enormous -- more than $300 million per year in lost production time, medical expenses, and workers compensation. No dollar figure can adequately reflect the personal toll these accidents take on the injured workers.

What contributes to eye injuries at work?

Take a moment to think about possible eye hazards at your workplace. A survey by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of about 1,000 minor eye injuries reveals how and why many on-the-job accidents occur.

Not wearing eye protection. BLS reports that nearly three out of every five workers injured were not wearing eye protection at the time of the accident.
Wearing the wrong kind of eye protection for the job. About 40% of the injured workers were wearing some form of eye protection when the accident occurred.

What causes eye injuries?

Flying particles. BLS found that almost 70% of the accidents studied resulted from flying or falling objects or sparks striking the eye. Injured workers estimated that nearly three-fifths of the objects were smaller than a pin head. Most of the particles were said to be traveling faster than a hand-thrown object when the accident occurred.
Contact with chemicals caused one-fifth of the injuries. Other accidents were caused by objects swinging from a fixed or attached position, like tree limbs, ropes, chains, or tools which were pulled into the eye while the worker was using them.

Where do accidents occur most often?

Craft work; industrial equipment operation. Potential eye hazards can be found in nearly every industry, but BLS reported that more than 40% of injuries occurred among craft workers, like mechanics, repairers, carpenters, and plumbers.
Over a third of the injured workers were operatives, such as assemblers, sanders, and grinding machine operators. Laborers suffered about one-fifth of the eye injuries. Almost half the injured workers were employed in manufacturing; slightly more than 20% were in construction.

How can eye injuries be prevented?

Always wear effective eye protection. To be effective, eye wear must appropriate for the hazard encountered and properly fitted.
Better training and education. BLS reported that most workers were hurt while doing their regular jobs. Workers injured while not wearing protective eyewear most often said they believed it was not required by the situation. Even though the vast majority of employers furnished eye protection at no cost to employees, about 40% of the workers received no information on where and what kind of eyewear should be used.
Maintenance. Eye protection devices must be properly maintained. Scratched and dirty devices reduce vision, cause glare and may contribute to accidents.

Description and Use of Eye/Face Protectors

Glasses. Protective eyeglasses are made with safety frames, tempered glass or plastic lenses, temples and side shields which provide eye protection from moderate impact and particles encountered in job tasks such as carpentry, woodworking, grinding, scaling, etc. Safety glasses are also available in prescription form for those persons who need corrective lenses.

Goggles. Vinyl framed goggles of soft pliable body design provide adequate eye protection from many hazards. These goggles are available with clear or tinted lenses, perforated, port vented, or non-vented frames. Single lens goggles provide similar protection to spectacles and may be worn in combination with spectacles or corrective lenses to insure protection along with proper vision. Welders goggles provide protection from sparking, scaling, or splashing metals and harmful light rays. Lenses are impact resistant and are available in graduated shades of filtration. Chippers/Grinders goggles provide eye protection from flying particles. The dual protective eye cups house impact resistant clear lenses with individual cover plates.

Face Shields. These normally consist of an adjustable headgear and face shield of tinted/transparent acetate or polycarbonate materials, or wire screen. Face shields are available in various sizes, tensile strength, impact/heat resistance and light ray filtering capacity. Face shields will be used in operations when the entire face needs protection and should be worn to protect eyes and face against flying particles, metal sparks, and chemical/biological splash.

Welding Shields. These shield assemblies consist of vulcanized fiber or glass fiber body, a ratchet/button type adjustable headgear or cap attachment and a filter and cover plate holder. These shields will be provided to protect workers’ eyes and face from infrared or radiant light burns, flying sparks, metal spatter and slag chips encountered during welding, brazing, soldering, resistance welding, bare or shielded electric arc welding and oxyacetylene welding and cutting operations.

Let's take a look at the standard

General Requirements

The employer must ensure that each affected employee uses appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards from flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation.

The employer must ensure that each affected employee uses eye protection that provides side protection when there is a hazard from flying objects. Detachable side protectors (e.g. clip-on or slide-on side shields) meeting the pertinent requirements of the PPE standard are acceptable.

The employer must ensure that each affected employee who wears prescription lenses while engaged in operations that involve eye hazards wears eye protection that incorporates the prescription in its design, or wears eye protection that can be worn over the prescription lenses without disturbing the proper position of the prescription lenses or the protective lenses.

The employer must ensure that each affected employee uses equipment with filter lenses that have a shade number appropriate for the work being performed for protection from injurious light radiation.

Criteria for protective eye and face devices.

Protective eye and face devices purchased after July 5, 1994 must comply with ANSI Z87.1-1989, "American National Standard Practice for Occupational and Educational Eye and Face Protection."

Eye and face protective devices purchased before July 5, 1994 must comply with the ANSI "USA standard for Occupational and Educational Eye and Face Protection," Z87.1-1968, or must be demonstrated by the employer to be equally effective.

Eye and face PPE must be distinctly marked to facilitate identification of the manufacturer.

Lasers

Employees whose occupation or assignment requires exposure to laser beams should be furnished laser safety goggles which will protect for the specific wavelength of the laser and be of optical density adequate for the energy involved.

What about emergencies?

Emergency eyewash facilities meeting the requirements of ANSI Z358.1 must be provided in all areas where the eyes of any employee may be exposed to corrosive materials. All such emergency facilities will be located where they are easily accessible in an emergency.

Selection chart guidelines for eye and face protection

Some occupations (not a complete list) for which eye protection should be routinely considered are: carpenters, electricians, machinists, mechanics and repairers, millwrights, plumbers and pipe fitters, sheet metal workers and tinsmiths, assemblers, sanders, grinding machine operators, lathe and milling machine operators, sawyers, welders, laborers, chemical process operators and handlers, and timber cutting and logging workers. The following chart provides general guidance for the proper selection of eye and face protection to protect against hazards associated with the listed hazard "source" operations.

Source	Assessment of Hazard	Protection
Eye and Face Protection Selection Chart
IMPACT - Chipping, grinding, machining, drilling, chiseling, riveting, sanding, etc.	Flying fragments, objects, large chips, particles, sand, dirt, etc.	Spectacles with side protection, goggles, face shields. For severe exposure, use face shield over primary eye protection.
HEAT - Furnace operations, pouring, casting, hot dipping, and welding.	Hot sparks Splash from molten metals High temperature exposure	Face shields, goggles, spectacles with side protection. For severe exposure use face shield. Face shields, reflective face shields. Screen face shields, reflective face shields.
CHEMICALS - Acid and chemicals handling	Splash Irritating mists	Goggles, eyecup and cover types. For severe exposure, use face shield over primary eye protection Special-purpose goggles
DUST - Woodworking, buffing, general dusty conditions	Nuisance dust	Goggles, eyecup and cover types.
LIGHT and/or RADIATION Welding - electric arc Welding - gas Cutting, torch brazing, torch soldering Glare	Optical radiation Optical radiation Optical radiation Poor vision	Welding helmets or welding shields. Typical shades: 10-14 Welding goggles or welding face shield. Typical shades: gas welding 4-8, cutting 3-6, brazing 3-4 Spectacles or welding face shield. Typical shades: 1.5-3 Spectacles with shaded or special-purpose lenses, as suitable.

Notes to Eye and Face Protection Selection Chart:
(1) Care should be taken to recognize the possibility of multiple and simultaneous exposure to a variety of hazards. Adequate protection against the highest level of each of the hazards should be provided. Protective devices do not provide unlimited protection.
(2) Operations involving heat may also involve light radiation. As required by the standard, protection from both hazards must be provided.
(3) Face shields should only be worn over primary eye protection (spectacles or goggles).
(4) As required by the standard, filter lenses must meet the requirements for shade designations in 1910.133(a)(5). Tinted and shaded lenses are not filter lenses unless they are marked or identified as such.
(5) As required by the standard, persons whose vision requires the use of prescription (Rx) lenses must wear either protective devices fitted with prescription (Rx) lenses or protective devices designed to be worn over regular prescription (Rx) eyewear.
(6) Wearers of contact lenses must also wear appropriate eye and face protection devices in a hazardous environment. It should be recognized that dusty and/or chemical environments may represent an additional hazard to contact lens wearers.
(7) Caution should be exercised in the use of metal frame protective devices in electrical hazard areas.
(8) Atmospheric conditions and the restricted ventilation of the protector can cause lenses to fog. Frequent cleansing may be necessary.
(9) Welding helmets or face shields should be used only over primary eye protection (spectacles or goggles).
(10) Non-side shield spectacles are available for frontal protection only, but are not acceptable eye protection for the sources and operations listed for "impact."
(11) Ventilation should be adequate, but well protected from splash entry. Eye and face protection should be designed and used so that it provides both adequate ventilation and protects the wearer from splash entry.
(12) Protection from light radiation is directly related to filter lens density. See note (4) . Select the darkest shade that allows task performance.

MODULE Quiz

16. Most eye injuries (70%) are caused by... (complete the sentence)

17. Which category of eye protection is most suitable to prevent exposure to a irritating mists?

a. Glasses
b. Goggles
c. Face shield
d. Welding shield
e. Either a or c

18. Employees whose occupation or assignment requires exposure to laser beams should be furnished laser safety goggles which will protect for a range of wavelengths that include that of the laser.

a. True
b. False

19. Employees should be involved in selecting eye protection.

a. True
b. False

20. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers injured while not wearing protective eyewear most often said:

a. they are not stylish - they make me look funny.
b. they believed it was not required by the situation.
c. management doesn't provide me with any PPE.
d. they aren't comfortable - they bother me.

Congratulations on completing the this module! I'm sure you'll agree that protecting your eyes and face is certainly important in the workplace. Continue on to the next module to learn more about respiratory protection requirements. If you have any questions or comments, just drop me an e-mail.

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