February 2010
Eye and Face Protection

Thousands of people are blinded each year from work-related eye injuries that could have been prevented with the proper selection and use of eye and face protection. Eye injuries alone cost more than $300 million per year in lost production time, medical expenses, and worker compensation.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) alone should not be relied on to protect against hazards. Use PPE in conjunction with guards, engineering controls, and sound manufacturing practices.

The following selected information was obtained from OSHA’s website “Eye and Face Protection” found at the website: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/eyefaceprotection/index.html

What OSHA Standards apply? (follow the links in blue for more information)

1910 Subpart I, Personal protective equipment

1910.132, General requirements [related topic page] 

1910.133, Eye and face protection 

Appendix B, Non-mandatory compliance guidelines for hazard assessment and personal protective equipment selection

1910 Subpart Q, Welding, cutting, and brazing

1910.252, General requirements [related topic page] 

1910.252(b)(2), Eye protection

What are the hazards and possible solutions associated with eye and face protection?

Many workers are unaware of the potential hazards in their work environments making them more vulnerable to injury. Personal protective equipment (PPE) for the eyes and face is designed to prevent or lessen the severity of injuries to workers when engineering the administrative controls are not feasible or effective in reducing these exposures to acceptable levels.

The following references aid in recognizing and evaluating eye and face hazards and provides possible solutions for these hazards. 

Eye and Face Protection. OSHA eTool. Provides a comprehensive hazard assessment, information about selecting protective devices for the workplace, as well as OSHA requirements. 

Selecting PPE for the Workplace. Provides a hazard assessment to determine the risk of exposure to eye and face hazards, including those which may be encountered in an emergency, and offers controls.

OSHA Requirements. Focuses on PPE requirements, training and qualification, and the ability to anticipate and avoid injury from job-related hazards.

Personal Protective Equipment. OSHA Publication 3151-12R, (2003). Also available as a 629 KB PDF, 46 pages. Discusses the types of equipment most commonly used to protect the head, torso, arms, hands, and feet. Additional topics include requirements, hazard assessment, selection, and employee training.

Eye Protection in the Workplace. OSHA Fact Sheet 93-03, (1993). Provides information about eye protection in the workplace including causes and prevention of eye injuries.

Eye Safety. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Safety and Health Topic.

Eye Safety: Emergency Response & Disaster Recovery. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), (2001, September). Includes information about eye safety, types of eye and face protection, and first aid for eye injuries.

Contact Lens Use in a Chemical Environment. US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication No. 2005-139, (2005, June). Provides safety guidelines for contact lens wearers working in chemical environments.

Eye Washes & Deluge Showers. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Discusses the need to install and maintain an emergency eye wash unit wherever a chemical or physical hazard may pose a serious risk of injury to someone's eye.

Toolbox Talk: Eye Safety. Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Safety and Health (eLCOSH). Also available as a 1 MB PDF, 17 pages. Discusses how and why eye injuries occur in the workplace and what to do to prevent them.

How Much Eye Protection Is Enough? Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Safety and Health (eLCOSH), (2002, February). Provides help in determining when more eye protection is needed.

Workplace Eye Safety. Prevent Blindness America. Provides questions and answers to commonly asked questions about workplace eye safety.

Emergency Eyewash Equipment. Manitoba Labour and Immigration, Workplace Safety and Health Division Safe Work Bulletin No. 104, (2002, December), 175 KB PDF, 2 pages. Includes a summary of the ANSI requirements.

As always, if there are questions or items that I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Michael Dodd

GAWDA DOT, Security, OSHA, & EPA Consultant
MLD Safety Associates, LLC