Your Vision in the Workplace

To educate businesses and their workers about the necessity of eye wellness, and to spread advice on how to avoid vision-endangering eye accidents, Prevent Blindness America (PBA) has marked the month of March as Workplace Vision Wellness Month.

Each day, workers are inflicted by job related eye injuries that demand the attention of an eye care professional or doctor. Workplace safety experts and doctors say that the two most common reasons that employees get eye injuries is either because they don't use anything to protect their eyes or they are taking the wrong sorts of safety measures.

Building, factory work, mining, woodwork, auto repair, electrical work, plumbing, welding and maintenance are all high risk occupations for eye accidents.

Making Work a Safe Site

Here are four important tips to avoid eye accidents at work:

• Be aware of the eye safety dangers related to your work.
• Reduce your exposure to risks before starting work by asking for machine guards, work screens or other engineering controls.
• Wear protective glasses that are fitted well and give enough protection for your job. Your optometrist will be able to help to determine the best safety eyewear for your particular situation.
• Make sure to keep your protective eyewear in great condition, and replace when damaged.

Healthy Screen Vision

Those who spend a large portion of their day working on computers or using mobile devices are also at risk of discomfort such as blurred vision, headaches and eye strain. Because of the increase in the use of computers in our lives, these dangers are becoming increasingly prevalent.

Here are some suggestions to avoid eye strain and visual discomfort when working on a computer or using a hand held device:

Utilize the 20-20-20 rule which will help your eyes rest. At every 20 minute interval take a 20 second break and watch something about 20 feet in the distance. If using a hand-held device, enlarge the text so you can use it at a distance better for your eyes.

Also adjust the light intensity of your monitor to a resolution that is not too bright or too dim and place your monitor right under eye level to reduce any pressure on your eyes. You may also want to consider purchasing computer glasses.

If you have any further questions about protecting your vision at work, please talk to us today!