Promoting Eye Wellness at Work

Poor vision health and eye injuries have a negative impact on employee productivity. It’s estimated that the more than 700,000 workplace eye injuries that happen every year cost businesses more than $934 million in combined productivity loss, health costs, fines and employee compensations.

Due to the negative impact of poor vision health on employee well-being and businesses’ bottom line, employers are being encouraged to observe Workplace Eye Wellness Month in March to help promote eye wellness in workspaces.

Here’s what businesses can do to promote employee eye wellness:

Remind Employees to Observe the 20-20-20 Rule

While using a computer, or any device for that matter, it’s important to let your eye muscles rest from time to time. That’s because something as simple as watching a video or reading from a computer screen puts a lot of strain on your eyes.

The problem is when people are working, they tend to fewer breaks. This often results in computer eye syndrome, which manifests symptoms such as headaches, blurred vision, and dry eyes (blinking spreads tears over your eyes and keeps them moist, but people blink less often when they’re using their phone or computers).

To reduce digital eye strain, employers should encourage their employees to remember the 20-20-20 Rule. Every 20 minutes, employees should look at an object at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. (Setting timers can help remind them to take a break).

In addition to reminding employees about the 20-20-20 rule, here are some tips employers can share to help reduce digital eye strain:

• Avoid sitting too close to the computer screen – A common myth is that sitting too close to the screen can cause myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness), two conditions with strong genetic risk factors. While sitting too close to the computer won’t cause any of these conditions, it does increase the strain on your eyes.
  How far from your face does your computer screen need to be? Ideally, the screen should be 20 to 28 inches away from your face. But if any employee has to squint or move closer to the screen to see better, they should undergo an eye exam. No need to worry though; in most cases, the usual suspect is a higher eyeglass prescription.
• Adjust computer display settings – The display brightness should be the same as the workstation’s brightness, the font size should be enlarged for easier viewing, and the color temperature should be lowered to reduce blue light—the short-wavelength visible light often associated with eye strain—emitted by the screen.

Important note: If the aforementioned symptoms are starting to affect their performance at work, we strongly encourage employees to see an optician.

Educating Employees About the Dangers of Blue Light

As mentioned earlier, HEV blue light is the most dangerous light for the retina, the part of the eye that’s responsible for receiving light from the lenses and converting it into neural signals that are then sent to the brain. Over time, prolonged exposure can damage retinal cells and increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration.

However, given that more than 60% of people spend most of their time at work in front of a computer screen—this figure has almost certainly increased thanks to the recent shift to the work-from-home set-up—there’s no avoiding blue light.

Fortunately, there are several ways to minimize the harmful effects of blue light. And it would be a good idea to keep employees informed about their options.

Here’s an overview of the different ways to reduce one’s exposure to blue light:

• Install screen filters – Screen filters help reduce the amount of blue light emitted by device screens.
• Computer glasses and anti-reflective lenses – Computer glasses have yellow-tinted lenses that block blue light while anti-reflective lenses reduce glare from the sun and screens and increase contrast.

To learn more about their options, employees can ask their opticians.

Introduce Safety Measures in the Workplace

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 2,000 workers in the US suffer an eye injury that requires medical attention, with more than 100 of these injuries forcing workers to miss one or more days of work. Given the personal and economic toll of these injuries, it’s important that managers and supervisors put in place safety precautions aimed at preventing eye injuries.

Here are some basic eye safety precautions:

• Provide workers with appropriate eye protection – Employers should provide blue-collar workers with equipment that can provide adequate protection for their line of work. Low-impact protective equipment (e.g., safety glasses, eyecup goggles, and face shields) should be required for tasks involving chipping, riveting, and hammering a strap under tension, medium-impact equipment for tasks involving wire handling, scaling and grinding metals, and brick cutting, and high-impact protective equipment (e.g., face shields and filters) for jobs that involve the use of nail guns and other power tools.
  Important note: Employees’ protective equipment should pass comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) regulations for eye and face protection. You can visit their website to learn more about their safety standards.
• Remove potential health and safety hazards – Place high-risk equipment in isolated areas or block access to them using safety barriers. And make sure equipment undergoes routine maintenance to prevent accidents.
• Schedule regular eye safety awareness meetings or seminars – In addition to the necessary protective equipment, employees should be provided with the proper safety training to minimize the risk of accidents and eye injuries. After all, promoting workplace eye wellness is a joint effort between management and rank-and-file employees. It would be a good idea to hold monthly workplace safety seminars and put up eye safety posters to remind employees about safety guidelines.

Remind Employees About Their Yearly Eye Exams

Depending on their age, the number of times employees need to see an eye doctor vary from:

• Every two to three years for adults aged 20 to 39 – Patients between the ages of 20 to 39 should undergo an eye exam every two to three years to monitor any changes in their vision.
• At least every two years for patients aged 40 to 64 – This is the age group wherein vision changes start to become noticeable.
• Once a year for patients aged 65 and above – Older patients should see their eye doctor at least once a year.

It’s important to remind employees that while age is a significant risk for certain vision conditions, it isn’t the only one. Factors such as genetics or a family history of certain conditions can increase a person’s risk for certain diseases. That’s why it’s highly recommended that adults undergo an eye examination at least once a year. Through frequent eye exams, eye doctors can detect and treat underlying vision issues before symptoms progress, potentially reducing the personal and financial toll of vision conditions.

Encourage Healthy Workplace Habits

Encouraging healthy habits at work can help promote eye wellness and even improve employee productivity in the long term. For instance, employers can include more fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria. It’s always a good idea to add more dark, leafy vegetables; they’re rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, which help protect your eyes from oxidative stress. Some of the dark, leafy vegetables you can try adding are spinach (a great addition to smoothies), kale ( with a bit of salt and olive oil, you can make kale chips), watercress (a tasty alternative to basil in pesto), and arugula leaves (they’re a great pizza topping). For more tips on promoting workplace eye wellness, you can consult an optician.

Downtown Eyes Crosstown offers a wide range of professional eye care services, including eye examination services.