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Health & Safety – part 6 – Eye Injury Prevention

Did you know that October is Eye Injury Prevention Month?

In construction-associated industries, many workers are advised to use safety goggles or glasses while performing job tasks.

Protective eyewear should cover the worker’s eyes without leaving gaps between the seal and their skin.

Here at Swiftclean, we supply eye protection PPE to our field staff teams, this is particularly important when they are using chemicals on site, or cleaning ducts, which could involve dust or debris falling into their eyes particularly when cleaning above their heads.

We supply items like safety glasses for regular work, and our team may use eye protection such as face shields if they are carrying out tasks such as cutting in access doors above their head space. This would be to avoid metal swarf from the access door cutting, falling, and damaging their eyes or face.


Our Health and Safety Director Martin adds, “We only get one pair of eyes, so it’s imperative that we take precautions to protect them both at home and in the workplace. At work, it’s often second nature to put on your PPE including eye protection, but at home that’s not always the case. Just this weekend I was strimming some grass and forgot my goggles. Luckily, I remembered after a minute and just a few moments later a twig flicked up and lodged in my goggles – that could have very easily damaged my eye!”


If an eye injury occurs, it’s important to know what to do. For example, if you think something has gone into an eye, it’s important to wash it out using saline solution or use an eye patch to prevent further damage before seeking professional help.

An eye injury can cause eye pain and vision loss, which may be temporary or permanent. Contact an eye care specialist right away if you have an eye injury. While some eye injuries can heal at home, others may need urgent treatment.

Our field-based staff always carry a fully stocked first aid kit with them in their vehicles, including eye wash, and we have several eye wash stations located at our storage depots across the UK.

In head office, Lewis manages the restocking of our first aid kits and always ensures that saline used to clean eyes in the event of an incident is in date. Any items used are logged and re-stocked monthly to ensure that if they are needed, they are readily available.

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