http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/stick-on-magnifying-lenses-give-clarity-to-middle-

sia-safety-matters-magazine-issue-1-july-2009-article-eye-safety

safety-solutions-magazine-july-2010-eye-safety-innovation

The OPTX 20/20 HydroTac stick-on magnifying reading lenses for WHS professionals are an alternative to prescription safety glasses.  Made with quality optical material, the soft plastic lenses bond via hydrostatic molecular adhesion (no glue) to the inside of eyewear lenses. They are water adherent, ensuring the design of the safety eyewear is not compromised.

The lightweight lenses are re-usable. When safety glasses or sunglasses need to be replaced, users simply peel the lenses off and reposition them on new glasses with a drop of water.

The reading lenses come with six different plus magnification strengths, are available in two sizes: standard (1.2 ″ diameter) and Magnoptic (1.6″ diameter), and can be trimmed for custom application.The lenses are ANSI Z87.1 -2003 (Occupational & Educational Eye & Face Protection Devices) compliant.

SAFETY EYEWEAR FOR AN AGEING WORKFORCE

Employers could improve their OHS compliance by providing newly available PPE to workers over 40 who wear safety eyewear and also need prescription glasses, says risk and safety management consultant Ron Greenwood.

The OPTX 20/20 stick-on lenses allow workers to wear their own spectacles and not have to alternate them with safety glasses.

“Safety glasses don’t always have corrective lenses so people have to choose between reading glasses and safety glasses, potentially exposing themselves to serious risks,” Greenwood told Inside OHS. “A lot of employees just end up wearing their own glasses most of the time. The stick-on lenses work for any type of safety glasses.”

Work crew didn’t have glasses on the job

Greenwood first discovered the lenses while investigating a workplace incident and realising vision problems could be a contributing factor. The incident involved earthworks conducted during the construction of a gas pipeline. The average age of the workers on the project was 47.

“One of the most serious events was related to a machine being bogged over a live gas line,” Greenwood said. “Investigative evidence revealed that of the 20 employees interviewed 18 admitted they needed reading glasses, but only two brought them to work. Their employer didn’tprovide or pay for corrective vision safety eyewear.”

Crew’s abilities ‘significantly compromised’

With the majority of the work crew being visually impaired, their ability to effectively participate in morning pre-start meetings that involved reviewing job hazard analyses and engineering drawings was “significantly compromised”.

“The workers were asked what they thought of the situation and they said they relied on the supervisor to tell them what they needed to know,” Greenwood said. “But when I informed them the supervisor was one of the people that didn’t bring his reading glasses to work there was a silence.”

Lenses help tackle ageing workforce OHS

The lenses have become available in Aust at a time when employers are grappling with the health & safety challenges of an ageing workforce. By 2020 four in 10 Aust workers will be 45 or older and some 80% of the population between 40 and 60 need reading glasses to see up close due to a condition called presbyopia.

According to Greenwood, the lenses could help drive down incidents.

“They help workers who have presbyopia to see finer detailed work, read safety instructions, drawings, tape measures and instrumentation, such as pressure and temperature gauges or even the speedometer on the car dash,” Greenwood said.

Employers’ duty to stay informed of industry practice

The lenses’ availability in Aust raised interesting systemic issues for employers, Freehills snr associate Steve Bell said.

“Employers have a positive obligation to keep themselves informed of any changes in industry practice and any developments in available risk controls,” Bell told Inside OHS. “Assessing what is reasonably practicable under OHS legislation means considering the state of industry knowledge and what best practice is under the circumstances.”

Aust stds and govt policy alert employers

The std covering prescription eye protectors for low and medium impact is AS/NZS 1337.6:2007 (http://www.saiglobal.com/PDFTemp/Previews/OSH/AS/AS1000/1300/1337.6-2007(+A1).pdf). It was developed after employers sought clear guidelines for when workers needed eye protection and corrective vision at the same time. The std aimed to promote safety improvements and reduce “the incidence of eye damage in occupational situations”.

Hazards that could potentially affect the eyes include dust, splashing and/or molten materials, harmful gases, vapours or aerosols, and high-energy flying particles or fragments, it said.

AS/NZS 1337 (http://www.saiglobal.com/PDFTemp/Previews/OSH/as/as1000/1300/1337.pdf)  covers eye protectors for industrial applications, while AS/NZS 1336  (http://www.saiglobal.com/PDFTemp/Previews/OSH/As/as1000/1300/1336.pdf) covers recommended practices for occupational eye protection.

In Feb, the WA Govt released a policy statement (http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/labourrelations/PDF/Policy/PrescriptionSafetyGlasses2010.pdf) that alerted public sector agencies they had responsibility for the full cost of prescription safety glasses for all employees “up to a reasonable maximum”. The policy said agencies needed to develop operational policies if prescription safety glasses were required. It should require employees to confirm they needed optical aids to fulfil their duties in the form of a medical/optometrist’s prescription, and that their safety glasses complied with the relevant stds.

According to Bell, some stds may be incorporated into law through codes of practice or other instruments, while others were a useful and current indicator of industry knowledge. But they all needed to be taken into account when planning work and risk controls, he said.

Employees’ safety duties

Employees for their part were required by law to take reasonable steps to look after their own safety.

“Being able to read instructions and see machinery clearly is obviously a critical element of this,” Bell said.

I can see clearly now…by  ZERO

Yarra Valley Chapter 9144 - HOG Newsletter Volume 3 Issue 1 – June 2010

OK, hands up all those under 45….. Thank you – now piss off! This is not for you children.

Go on, leave now… Don’t dawdle; close the door behind you…

Great, now it’s only us “grown-ups”. You know how it is, the writing on menus & newspapers gets smaller & smaller and your arms seem to get shorter until you finally HAVE to go out & buy a pair of reading glasses. I got mine a few years ago; +1 strength seems to be fine for working on the computer & reading most things, apart from when the light level goes down… but more on that later. Long sight is still fine though, thank heavens!

The trouble is that the speedometer is a bit blurry & “sorry Officer, I couldn’t read my

Speedo” doesn’t seem to cut the ice. Let alone trying to read the clock that Harley-Davidson have so thoughtfully provided us as an option to viewing the mileage

Well, my friends, I have found the solution. I first saw these in an advert in a trade magazine at work & though – they look like a good idea. I came across them in the flesh, so to speak a few weeks ago at Safety in Action exhibition at Jeffs Shed. They are called OPTX 20/20 HydroTac Magnification Lenses. They are stick on bifocals for your riding safety glasses or goggles.

The great thing about them is that they are removable, just get a fingemail under & peel them off and reusable should you happen to break said safety glasses.  I tried a few on at the exhibition & here’s where we come back to the low light level issue mentioned

before. As I said, I normally use a +1 strength reader but I do have some stronger ones,

+2 for work in the shed at night & even some +3 for soldering or really fine work. I found that with dark safety glasses I needed a +1.75 strength to see sharply at arms length (for my GPS), so this is something to consider if you decide to get some of these.

These are only available via the web at the moment, go to www.optxaustralasia.com to read all about them & order yourself a pair or give them a call on 1300 6789 20.  I can heartily recommend them as I can now not only see my GPS and clock on the speedo, I can also see the two dots between the hour & minute digits!

Can somebody let the children back in now?

FlyLife magazine readers’ forum, dedicated to all forms of fly fishing in Australia & New Zealand

“New” product Optx 20/20 mags for the “mature” angler