Factors associated with construction worker eye injuries

This paper reports on the results of a study of construction worker eye injuries collected by a firm that provides medical treatment services to over 40,000 construction workers each year. The records maintained by these clinics were examined for information related to injury causation and specific factors associated with construction worker eye injuries. A study was conducted on a random sample of a portion of the data involving construction workers eye injuries. The objective was to identify factors that were associated with eye injury causation. Over 600 eye injuries were examined. There was an equal distribution of right eye and left eye injuries. It was noted that for nearly 80% of the eye injuries, no eye protection was worn at the time of the injury. When dust particles were involved in the injury, no eye protection was worn in 97% of the instances. Specific patterns of injuries were noted. For example, when grinding metal, 66% of the injuries were to the right eyes. Additionally, the use of drills was associated with significantly more right eye injuries, while the use of hammers was associated with significantly more left eye injuries. These findings suggest that right or left eye injuries are associated with certain tools and tasks, suggesting that additional research is warranted in this area. Eye protection is one means of reducing these types of injuries, but it appears that task layout and tool design may also have an influence.