Posted By Shane Johnston Due to the unacceptable number of eye incidents, we have reassessed the risk and are now introducing a policy requiring all employees to wear safety glasses at all times on the shop floor. However we are receiving some resistance from Union side as they are concerned about eyestrain / eye damage etc. We are using good quaity safety glasses, and for those requiring prescription we are also providing the eyesight test (at our cost) to ensure the prescription is up to date. Anyone any credible evidence that suggests that wearing glasses can either cause eyestrain/damage, or introduce another risk. Much appreciated.

Posted By Shaun Ingram Shane , You do not say what type of industry you are in ,from my experience the downside of wearing them all the time would be restricted vision and possibly discomfort ,are they goggles or glasses that you are using ? or do they have a choice?. Thanks Shaun

Posted By Jonathan Breeze Have you asked the union on what evidence they have based their concerns? If they are in possession of some facts of which you are unaware, then perhaps they should share it for the mutual benefit of all. Is this the real issue here, or is the issue that you imposed the blanket wearing of goggles without consultation? I'm not taking sides here, just trying to get inside someones head & identify motives.

Posted By Merv Newman Shane, in my experience in a wide number of industries, eye-strain, fatigue, heavy, hot ... are the first reasons given for not wearing glasses. Try them on "how would you like to be blind ?" or "remember the last time you got something in your eye ? Do you want to do it again ?" Then be extra nice to the people who do wear them. I have a photo of a self tapping screw half way through the lense. e-mail if you want it.

Posted By David A Jones I'm not aware of any data that wearing safety glasses leads to eyestrain. I might be a bit cynical here, but are the unions fishing for something at the moment? e.g. are pay negotiations in the offing etc.

Posted By Mike Craven I thought it had been some time since we had some good fashioned union-bashing on this site! Excellent balanced response from Fats - Yes, I had my first ever ("proper") eyetest only a few weeks ago and found, as I suspected,I needed glasses (but only for reading, computing, driving and generally seeing things!!), and I'm convinced that my eyes have deteriorated rapidly since I started to wear them! "Try providing a few different types of spec, that may get them (the unions) on board, and get them involved in trialing and deciding which ones to use." Exactly - communication and consultation - wonderful things - why not try it, we might even see results folks. Far better than moaning about the "unions" on matters about which we haven't got much background info and on which we haven't heard the unions "side". Although as some people seem to believe everything they read in the press these days, its hardly surprising that others should believe all that the anti-union brigade come up with. Mike

Posted By Karen Todd In my experience, how this starts is people read the leaflet that comes with the safety glasses, without fully understanding what it means. There is a bit in the leaflet that will say something like, "Optical class 3 (not suitable for long periods of use)" and they seize upon this fact. You then get employees coming to you with the leaflet saying, "It says in the leaflet I'm not meant to wear them all day"! However, most safety glasses are all class 1 - the highest optical quality with the least distortion, etc. I think optical class 3 are things like face shields and visors. Regards, Karen

Posted By Paul Birney TechSP I should first declare that I am a union safety rep. That aside, it is my experience that issueing safety specs is very easy for employers to do, Shane you say you have tried alternatives, what were they, did you include your workforce in looking for alternatives, were the alternatives a lot more expensive than specs, they usually are. In my workplace we have had similar issues, the employer has designated mandatory eye protection zones without doing an assessment and then issued PPE (glasses) without doing a PPE assessment. Assuming you have done a PPE assessment you will have taken into account how long the glasses will be worn and from there decided that only good quality, good fitting glasses will be sufficient, as eye strain and headaches will be a factor (I speak from experience of wearing specs for 12 hour shifts). However, I will agree that it may be simply a case of your employees not being happy that something was imposed on them without any consultation, who would be. I am sadened though that many of the respondents to this thread have jumped on the popular union bashing theme. All union safety reps I know do not have an axe to grind but are simply trying to do the best for their members. Safety managers however do have other issues to contend with in the form of targets, productivity and budgets. Perhaps it is the safety managers who should be taking a closer look at their objectives and principles. Paul

Posted By Shane Johnston Our use of eye protection in the past was task specific rather than area specific. As a consequence it was up to the individual to put on the PPE when the task required it (as detailed in individual task risk assessments). Unfortunately analysis of the accidents to date indicate that the vast majority happen as individuals are not wearing the PPE when required. We have used poster campaigns (eye injuries etc), getting supervisors/line managers to enforce the use of eye protection etc, but numbers have not reduced. As some tasks requiring eye protection may only take a few minutes, the task is over with before a line manager/supervisor has observed the deviation from the safe system of work, hence the difficulting in enforcing the use. Designating all areas eye protection zones makes enforcement much easier. When the task only takes a minute, and you are focussed on the task in hand, I can understand why individuals forget to put on the PPE ... so if individuals repeatedly forget to put it on ... then make them wear it all the time ..... what other option do I have ?