Work-related eye injuries in the U.S

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jackson, Larry L.
• Description:
  Background: Each day, nearly 2,000 U.S. workers have an eye injury that requires medical treatment. Characterizing these injuries aids the development of eye safety programs and the design of eye protection. Methods: Two national injury surveillance systems collect data on workplace eye injuries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Survey of Injuries and Illnesses captures data reported by private industry employers on medically-treated eye injuries involving a day or more away from work (DAFW). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's occupational supplement to the National Electronic Injury and Illness System (NEISS-Work) captures data on eye injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments. NEISS-Work data are based on worker reporting of work-relatedness at the time of treatment. Results: Occupational eye injury rates have been declining. In 2007, there were 33,000 DAFW eye injuries (3% of all DAFW cases) at a rate of 3.5 injuries per 10,000 full-time workers (FTE) and 212,000 ED-treated occupational eye injuries (6% of all ED-treated cases) at a rate of 15 injuries per 10,000 FTE. Younger workers, males, and construction industry workers had the highest rates. Most injury events involved eye contact with an object such as scrap or debris or involved exposure to substances such as chemicals. Conclusions: Reducing occupational eye injuries has been a national goal of the Healthy People 2010 vision initiative. Although eye injury rates have decreased, the eye injury etiology remains largely the same. Increased use of eye protection may significantly influence the injury rate and patterns. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Eye Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Safety Management Sense Organs Sense Organs / Injuries
• Keywords:
  Eye-injuries Eye-protection Eyes Injuries Injury-prevention Medical-treatment Occupational-hazards Safety-glasses Safety-measures Surveillance Workers

  More +
• Publisher:
  American Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038281
• Citation:
  APHA 137th Annual Meeting and Exposition, November 7-11, 2009, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2009 Nov; :213155
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  APHA 137th Annual Meeting and Exposition, November 7-11, 2009, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f6c736096cc8c29eb8dad7e01680e9fadfc88d1be7962a1c99d6800f8910717abd43252c985c948bf0d094c17eeeb327ebd7e334a69a1fdaa37919fce648767d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192042/cdc_192042_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 107.22 KB ]