Establishing pre-employment vision standards for goldsmiths

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Ophthalmology
• Ergonomics

Background:

• Jewellery making requires high visual acuity due to detailed tasks at close working distances.
• Goldsmiths perform visually demanding tasks necessitating specific visual abilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish objective vision standards for goldsmiths.
• To define minimum visual requirements for entry-level jewellery makers.

Main Methods:

• Conducted visual task analysis in 91 goldsmith workstations to determine visual demands.
• Evaluated visual abilities of 113 goldsmiths against established criteria.
• Compared visual competency with job competency (quality and quantity of work) assessed by supervisors.

Main Results:

• Median working distance was 23 cm, with a critical task size and illuminance of 514.5 Sq Cm and 536.5 lux, respectively.
• 44.7% of evaluated goldsmiths met the visual competence criteria.
• 60% of assessed goldsmiths were highly job competent, with vision standards developed based on visual demands.

Conclusions:

• The developed vision standards can serve as minimum visual requirements for aspiring goldsmiths.
• Implementing these standards may enhance visual performance and job competency in the jewellery industry.