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709 Personal Protective Equipment
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Eye and Face Protection

Introduction

Each year, over 27,000 eye and face injuries occur in American workplaces.

Eye Protection

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.

Eye Injuries at Work

A survey by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which examined about 1,000 minor eye injuries at work, reveals how and why many on-the-job eye injury accidents occur:

  • Not Using Eye Protection: BLS found that almost 60% of workers hurt in these accidents weren't wearing any eye protection.
  • Using the Wrong Eye Protection: Around 40% of workers who got injured were wearing eye protection, but it wasn't the right type for their job.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

3-1. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), of the workers that sustain eye injuries, nearly _____ are injured because they do not wear eye protection.