Gunner with 1Brigade Combat Team 82nd Division wears shaded eye protection as he fires his M249 at Rotation 21-05 at the Joint Readiness Training Center. (Photo: Capt. Joseph Warren)
3/25/2022By:V Hauschild and the TriService Vision Conservation and Readiness Branch Army Public Health Center
Vision and Hearing Loss Prevention | Hearing Center of Excellence | Vision Center of Excellence | Injury Prevention
Many people take their vision for granted, but most also recognize the increased likeliness of declining vision and vision loss as they age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies the leading causes of vision loss as cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma.
While routine eye exams and healthy habits can help reduce the risks or severity of age-related vision loss, the possibility of injury or trauma to the eye can happen at any age. Eye injuries can range from scratches to more permanent vision loss.
Each year thousands of active-duty military personnel injure their eyes. Eye injuries can result in both short- and potential long-term effects on vision, and have mission impacts.
“It’s important for service members to recognize that any eye injury can adversely impact their performance and operational readiness, so it is essential to continuously enforce eye protection and workplace safety,” says Cmdr. Hong Gao, a Navy optometrist working with the Army Public Health Center TSVCRB.
In field training and combat activities, eye hazards range from fragmenting munitions and other airborne debris, to invisible hazards such as ultraviolet radiation.
The most common work-related eye injury, according to TSVCRB experts, is from small foreign body metal pieces that come from cutting, grinding or explosions. These and other eye injuries can be prevented with workplace inspections and wearing proper safety eyewear.
Military commanders and safety officers are required to assess local work and training conditions to determine if and what types of eye protection are needed. Local vision conservation and readiness teams, which ideally should include safety, industrial hygiene, occupational health and optometry members, can inspect a work environment for ocular hazards or risks and give recommendations.
To ensure proper safety eyewear, service members are to use Military Combat Eye Protection. The MCEP, which includes the Army Protective Eyewear List, actually includes a list of various safety eyewear that have been approved by military eye experts for workplace and combat uses. Safety eyewear in the MCEP not only meet national criteria specified by the American National Standards Institute, but additional requirements to ensure maximum protection for military service members.
It’s important to note that just ensuring the best eye protection is used in military activities and the workplace isn’t enough.
During the pandemic, many service members have been working from home or working on more home projects where eye protection is advised (e.g. mowing lawn, weed trimming, working under sinks and painting). While prescriptive glasses or sunglasses offer some level of eye protection (e.g. falling debris), it is best to use specific certified safety glasses to ensure the highest level of eye protection. According to the TSVCRB, the best safety glasses should have an ANSI z87.1 label on them.
Certain sports, such as basketball, paintball, lacrosse and boxing, are also high risk activities for eye injuries among service members.
“I have found most acute eye injuries are from finger strikes to the eye,” says Lt. Col. Terryl Aitken, one of the Army optometrists at TSVCRB. “Many of these occurred during basketball, and could have been prevented if the individual was wearing eye protection.”
Aitken says the other very common cause of finger strike eye injuries is when a baby or child’s finger or toy hits a parent’s eye. Though these may be less feasible to prevent with eye protection, just being alert to these common hazards can help with avoiding them.
Organizations and programs such as MCEP and local vision conservation teams help to protect the vision and ensure the mission readiness of soldiers. But a service member should maximize the Department of Defense’s efforts to reduce associated eye-injuries by assessing their personal activities for eye hazards and choosing suitable eye protection. The International Safety Equipment Association provides a selection guide to assist.
General eye protection tips are provided below:
If it’s a chemical environment, wear proper chemical safety goggles rated for the chemical hazard (e.g., working on your car battery).
If it’s an impact environment, wear proper safety eyewear or goggles rated ANSI z87.1 or greater (MCEP/APEL approved eye protection), examples include grinding metal or working underneath a car.
Be a role model for safety glasses or goggle use.
The Army Public Health Center focuses on promoting healthy people, communities, animals and workplaces through the prevention of disease, injury and disability of Soldiers, military retirees, their families, veterans, Army civilian employees, and animals through population-based monitoring, investigations, and technical consultations.
The first marking you'll likely see on your eyewear is “Z87” or “Z87+”. This is the ANSI standard for impact protector requirements which helps ensure safety eyewear provides workers with the needed protection from impact hazards.
General requirements. The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards from flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation.
Any job that involves airborne particles or hazardous substances carries a risk of eye injury. Handling chemicals under high pressure or managing a strap under tension, which may suddenly release, are added risks. Wearing eye protection appropriate for the task can significantly reduce the risk of injury.
If your work exposes your eyes to hazards such as dust or chemicals, or to the risk of impact with tools, materials, or flying debris, you must wear safety eyewear. This requirement also applies to workers who wear prescription glasses or contact lenses.
Eye and face protection must meet ANSI Z87. 1- “American National Standard Practice of Occupational and Education Eye and Face Protection”. Safety eyewear can be worn over prescription lenses and should not disturb the proper position of other safety apparel.
Your visual acuity score is measured by a fraction. Perfect vision yields a score of 20/20, which means the viewer can see the same letters at 20 feet away what another normal viewer could also see at 20 feet. If your vision is less than perfect, you might receive a score of 20/40 or 20/50.
Goggles are the primary protectors intended to shield the eyes against liquid or chemical splash, irritating mists, vapors, and fumes. They form a protective seal around the eyes, and prevent objects or liquids from entering under or around the goggles.
OSHA requires employers to ensure the safety of all employees in the work environment. Eye and face protection must be provided whenever necessary to protect against chemical, environmental, radiological or mechanical irritants and hazards.
Direct vented goggles (those with perforated holes on the sides) are an acceptable substitute for safety glasses with side shields. Chemical splash goggles (those with indirect ventilation on sides) are required where protection is needed against chemical splashes or sprays.
If you're not wearing safety glasses or goggles on the job, you're risking permanent eye damage and blindness. Think about all the work activities you may do each day that can cause eye injury: grinding, sanding, brushing, sawing, drilling, buffing, hammering, cutting, welding and working with chemicals.
Cataracts and eye cancers can take years to develop. Each time you bask in the sun without eye protection, you increase your risk of serious disease. Babies and children need to wear hats and sunglasses for this very reason. People of all ages should take precautions whenever they are outdoors.
Personal protective equipment, commonly referred to as "PPE", is equipment worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. These injuries and illnesses may result from contact with chemical, radiological, physical, electrical, mechanical, or other workplace hazards.
In most cases there are no legal repercussions unless your refusal to wear safety glasses endangers you or those around you in any way – therefore by refusing to wear safety glasses at the behest of your employer, disciplinary action or dismissal are likely to be the worst consequence.
Every household should have at least one pair of ANSI-approved protective eyewear. You should wear it when doing projects or activities that could create a risk for eye injuries at home. Choose protective eyewear with "ANSI Z87. 1" marked on the lens or frame.
If the glasses are safety-approved according to ANSI or other standards, they will be stamped. By stamped, we mean that you will see on the frame or lens whether it meets certain safety standards. Looking at the Wiley X Gravity glasses, for instance, you will note that they are ANSI Z87. 2 safety approved.
The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses eye protection that provides side protection when there is a hazard from flying objects. Detachable side protectors (e.g. clip-on or slide-on side shields) meeting the pertinent requirements of this section are acceptable.
ANSI Z87 is the rating for basic eye protection. The ANSI Z87+ rating means the glasses can withstand significant impact, like the blast of a pellet gun. For chemicals, dusts, and various lights, you may need different PPE, such as goggles, with a different ANSI rating.
The ANSI/ISEA Z87. 1 standard sets forth requirements for the design, construction, testing, and use of eye protection devices, including standards for impact and penetration resistance. All safety glasses, goggles, and face shields used by employees under OSHA jurisdiction must meet the ANSI/ISEA Z87.
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Gunner with 1Brigade Combat Team 82nd Division wears shaded eye protection as he fires his M249 at Rotation 21-05 at the Joint Readiness Training Center. (Photo: Capt. Joseph Warren)