Eye injuries at work: a prospective population-based survey within the chemical industry

A population of 63,000 chemical industry workers was studied prospectively over approximately 10,000,000 man-hours of work. A total of 133 eye injuries were reported (8.4% of all injuries), of which 22% needed medical attention. Eye protection was often not worn, some protectors may have been wrongly recommended for a particular task, and some protectors may have failed to perform adequately. In this population, an eye injury occurred once every 75,000 man-hours of work on average (injury incidence 23:1000:year). Most injuries were avoidable. Revision of protection protocols at work, and improved education of personnel are needed to reduce the incidence of occupational eye injury.