Specsavers Corporate Eyecare reveals the results of comprehensive research into the safety eyewear knowledge, policies and choices of over 100 companies. It is hoped that the release of this information will help HR professionals to have a better understanding of health and safety practices and give guidance on areas where policies may need to be tightened.

The research results uncover a worrying lack of understanding regarding safety eyewear and misconceptions that could put employees at risk and incur unwarranted costs for employers.

Lack of understanding
A disturbing 59% of those responsible for health and safety within their company believe that wearing ordinary prescription glasses will provide protection from corrosive materials. 31% believe they protect from electric arcs and 25% believe ordinary glasses provide protection from welding materials. In fact, wearing ordinary prescription glasses will not provide protection against any of these risks. If ordinary prescription eyewear is used instead of the appropriate safety eyewear, then employees are potentially put at serious risk.

Indeed the lack of knowledge regarding safety eyewear is evident from the very start of the process - when the need for safety frames is first ascertained.

• The most likely stage for a company to agree to provision of safety eyewear is following a request from an employee – stated by 46% of respondents.
• 11% of respondents believe they should provide safety eyewear following advice from a high-street optician.

Each situation has its own specific solution, which can only be truly assessed by someone with access to the workplace. The high-street optician will not, therefore, be the appropriate person to determine the risks and propose the correct safety eyewear precautions. In practice this should actually be instigated by a full Health & Safety Audit and Risk Assessment.

Laura Butler, Corporate Account Manager at Specsavers Corporate Eyecare, says: “Our research reveals that a significant number of people responsible for health and safety within their company do not have a full enough understanding regarding safety eyewear. It is clear that greater knowledge is needed to protect employees from the risks but also to protect employers from legal action, potential fines and unnecessary expense, particularly at a time when HR is having to focus so heavily on budget.”

Purchasing decisions
Wearers may not be receiving the most appropriate kind of safety eyewear. Although 95% of employers knew that safety glasses can include prescription lenses, 28% did not know they can include varifocal lenses, 24% did not know they can include bifocal lenses and 12% were not aware they could include sunglare protection. So employees are missing out by not being given the full benefits of their safety eyewear.

Style and fit are more important than would perhaps be expected. 20% do not class comfort as ‘very important’ when evaluating the use of safety frames, even though 83% of health and safety managers believe that if safety frames are not comfortable they are likely to be removed.

It seems that although safety frames are essentially functional, style is still a significant consideration, with only 19% of respondents saying style is not very important or not important at all.

Maintenance
Lack of knowledge of maintenance of safety eyewear could be putting staff at risk and incurring unnecessary costs for employers: 8% of respondents believe that the typical lifespan of safety glasses is 3 years or more. This could be putting wearers at risk, as in fact, the typical lifespan of safety glasses is two years. On the other side of the issue, 39% of companies stated that safety glasses have a typical lifespan of just one year, so they may be incurring unnecessary costs by changing safety eyewear more regularly than required.

Specsavers Corporate Eyecare is offering a free guide to Safety Eyewear. The publication has been written for HR professionals who need to understand the intricacies of selecting the correct safety eyewear for staff.

For a free copy of Specsavers Corporate Eyecare’s guide to Safety Eyewear please call:
0115 9330800 or email: corporateeyecare@uk.specsavers.com.

Research conducted on behalf of Specsavers Corporate Eyecare by eMedia in June 2010.