The Eyes Have It

Over the past year we have noted a number of instances of minor injuries to eyes. These have been from a variety of sources, from planting trees to pushing through a mature crop.

Whilst many organisations have gone down the route of mandatory eye protection on site, it doesn’t make sense to have such a rule on forestry sites. On a majority of occasions there isn’t a significant risk of eye injury, and as any glasses wearer will tell you, wearing glasses in the rain can bring it’s own challenges.

Instead we have adopted a task based approach to eye protection. Those tasks that pose a risk to eyes will have eye protection included in the controls in the risk assessment. It is also the duty of each of us to be aware of our work and surroundings and actively consider if we need additional controls to manage risks.

This includes risk to our eyes. It could be dust blowing on dry day, or walking through trees undertaking surveys.

Ask yourself if you actively consider risk to your eyes when at work, and if you felt you needed some eye protection, do you have any to hand? Most of us will have a mesh visor on our hard hats, but this can sometimes be easily deflected.

Consider what eye protection suits your needs best and is readily available should you need it.