Making It Work
Safety directors, RNs tell VM how safety
eyewear providers help ease administering safety programs
Making It Work
Safety directors, RNs
tell VM how safety eyewear providers help ease administering safety programs
By Seth J.
BookeyContributing
EditorEmployees in a variety of
work situations are required to wear safety eyewear, along with other safety
gear, by law. But, unlike earplugs, gloves and hardhats, prescription safety
eyewear has extra requirements. Consequently, safety directors and occupational
safety nurses are responsible for fitting employees properly, thus ensuring the
safety eyewear will be
used.Crucial to getting
employees properly fitted is finding experienced local eyecare practitioners. In
many cases, it is the manufacturer of safety eyewear (in addition to wholesale
laboratories) that signs a safety eyewear client and pairs them with local
doctors and
opticians.Employees
are more likely to wear safety frames when they feature attractive styling, such
as the frames worn by this employee at Vistawall in Terrell,
Texas.Having a good working
relationship with an ECP makes administering a safety eyewear program that much
easier for employers. In Macon, Ga., Graphic Packaging International, a
manufacturer of paper for packaging, and Armstrong International, a maker of
tile products, have been paired with Caldwell & Son, their local ECP safety
eyewear provider by safety eyewear manufacturer Titmus
Optical.Danny Highsmith, RN,
occupational health nurse at Graphic Packaging, said having a close working
relationship with Caldwell has been important. He consults with the ECP on a
weekly basis. When he puts together an annual health fair to help keep employees
informed on safety issues; Caldwell sets up a room to screen employees for
glaucoma and eye exams, while Titmus displays new frame
styles.
At
the Armstrong plant in Macon, Ga., employees are given some safety reminders
before they even enter the
workplace.At Armstrong,
Yvonne Jackson, RN, COHNS-CM (certified occupational health nurse
specialist-case manager) oversees a safety prescription eyewear program for more
than 200 employees. Jackson has worked at Armstrong for 28 years and Caldwell
has always been the ECP providing SRx. Jackson relies on Caldwell for
“good communication and reliability. They keep me informed about [eyewear]
changes and I can call them whenever there’s a
problem.”Nadine Jones,
RN, who is an occupational health nurse consultant for specialty chemicals
manufacturer Clariant Corporation in Mt.Holly, N.C., noted that she relies on
Titmus and her local ECP to administer the program for Clariant, by keeping
track of Clariant’s guidelines in terms of what types of frames and lenses
are covered, and keeping Clariant’s maximum payments in
mind.Warren Brown, who has
served as vice president of professional development for the American Society of
Safety Engineers, and currently works for an automotive supply parts company,
has been involved with safety eyewear issues for four decades. He noted that
when choosing a safety eyewear provider, criteria include pricing, high-quality
product and delivery, and helping employers find local ECPs. Helping to
“make the process seamless” for employers is crucial, Brown told VM.
“Adjusting prescriptions and resolving problems easily if they
occur,” are essential to running a smooth safety prescription eyewear
program.
Warren
BrownBrown noted that
unfashionable frames, ill-fitting glasses, and Rx problems are the main
impediments to safety eyewear compliance. “If the glasses are comfortable,
employees will wear them. If you have to force them, then they won’t.
Then, if they lose their eyesight, that’s the ultimate loss.” Brown
also noted that they rely on both the manufacturer and ECP to keep safety
directors and nurses abreast of “new frames, new lens types, side shields
and AR coatings--all of these technological improvements make employees more
likely to wear the
glasses.”Clariant’s
Jones also noted that when employees liked safety glasses from work enough to
wear them at home, this prevented off-site injuries, “It helps the company
by decreasing our insurance and absenteeism
costs.”Custom
FitNot all companies with
employees in safety eyewear are alike, and safety eyewear providers are often
chosen by their ability to meet a company’s special
requirements.Allen White,
safety director for SMI Steel South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., oversees the
eyewear needs of 380 employees, 20 percent of whom are in prescription eyewear.
When the steel mill, which has always had a safety eyewear program, switched to
Essilor last year for its SRx services, pricing was one criterion, but
Essilor’s ability to service multiple locations for SMI Steel was also
important. “Within the Essilor network, we have the same MDs and opticians
who would be making lenses for prescription eyewear” locally for
employees.
At
SMI Steel South Carolina, employees help test out new safety eyewear, like the
Uvex Stealth Rx Goggle.Gary
Barger, corporate safety director for Broyhill Furniture, a wood and upholstered
furniture manufacturer in Lenoir, N.C., has been involved with training and
safety there for 17 years. He relies on both Essilor and ECPs to help keep 1,100
employees in SRx. He noted, “Essilor has done a wonderful job of
responding to our needs. They have tailored a program that fits Broyhill very
well. We have a long-standing relationship with Southern Optical in Greensboro,
and know those in the safety eyewear department very well. The safety eyewear
program keeps evolving to adopt newer frames and methods to make it easier for
the employees and opticians to order and fit
glasses.”The Burlington
Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) freight railroad has 28,000 employees in 28 states and
parts of Canada, and so for Robert Roy, director of field safety support
(located in Fort Worth, Texas), keeping things simple is important. Something
that keeps running an SRx program simple for him is paying one price for glasses
regardless of Rx. “AOSafety Eyewear met our single-price
requirement,” Roy said, and met a variety of customer-service needs.
“I have more things to do in my day than hear employees complain about
eyewear fitting problems.” Consequently, he added, “We established
with AOSafety Eyewear that there had to be an 800 number dedicated to just to
BNSF employees.” Eye exams are the employees’ responsibility at
BNSF, and he noted that “We can pinpoint major cities where our facilities
are located. AOSafety Eyewear selects dispensers in the area. The rest takes
care of itself. We have employees call AOSafety’s 800 number and they find
a dispenser near
them.”Welcoming
FeedbackBrad Bauer, division
safety manager for Vistawall, a maker of architectural aluminum products in
Terrell, Texas, noted that feedback from employees is also very important in
running an SRx
program.“Part of our
culture is employee participation. Some workers have thanked me for implementing
the safety eyewear program,” Bauer said, recalling an incident when a
pneumatic nail hit a co-worker walking by--he showed how the glasses saved the
eye.”At Clariant, Jones
noted that circulating the piece of metal and the damaged glasses that saved the
worker’s eyes “were a great attention grabber during a safety
meeting once employees knew that the glasses had been worn by a
co-worker.”Graphic
Packaging’s Highsmith said that his company also tests new frames for
Titmus. He does all side-shield installations personally, and he also notes that
people “break glasses when screws loosen.” Consequently, he watches
how they maintain their SRx and “can teach them to reduce
failures.”Gary
BargerAt Broyhill, Barger
noted that “Employees let us know when they need a change. We changed our
policy to allow detachable side shields and employees have done a great job of
keeping the side shields on their
glasses.”Brad
BauerSMI Steel’s
White partners with vendors on trying to eke out more longevity from lenses, and
employees help by testing new products. “We sometimes ask employees in
more severe work environments to test out new materials and pass along that
information,” White said. “It’s like the dog with the
itch--the new styles catch on when employees see them,” he
said.Vistawall’s Bauer
also noted another side benefit of implementing an SRx program: “When we
first put the program in, we had 200 people. What came out of that was that many
had not had eye exams for some time. Some had glaucoma or pre-glaucoma
conditions. Hopefully, we saved the eyesight of these
folks.”Volume
Number: 19:09 Issue: 8/15/2005
© 2005 VisionMonday.
All Rights Reserved
Posted: Mon - August 15, 2005 at 03:39 PM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:04 PM
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