May 2017 Prevent Eye Injuries in the Yard by Wearing the Proper Eye Protection

Did you know that almost half of all eye injuries are from doing everyday chores like working in the yard? Many of these injuries can be prevented by wearing the proper eye protection and following these helpful tips:

While weed trimming and mowing, wear polycarbonate safety glasses with side protection or goggles. Debris from string trimmers and mowers can unexpectedly enter the eye at a high rate of speed scratching your cornea and leaving your eye vulnerable to infection and possible vision loss.

Not all sunglasses qualify as safety glasses. Many sunglasses are made of non-impact material creating a danger to the eye if they shatter.

Check your yard and remove debris before mowing and trimming. Move rocks, sticks and anything else from your yard that you could possibly hit that could fly up and hit you in the eye.

Turn off your power tools when a bystander without eye protection approaches, especially children. Bystanders and children need eye protection around this equipment while in use.

Wear goggles while using yard fertilizers, pesticides and other yard chemicals. Be sure to wash hands thoroughly before touching the eyes or face after using these chemicals.