MANAGING BEST PRACTICES: Contact lenses and chemicals
What calls should an EHS pro make on use of contacts? After all, advances in contact lenses — FDA approval for 30-day/night extended wear contacts, bifocals, etc. — are making contacts a growing choice among workers who require prescription eyewear.
Until the mid-1990s, most employers banned the use of contacts among workers in industrial environments. The bans were based mostly on now disproved claims: Exposure to arc flash could fuse contacts to the cornea, or chemicals could readily be concentrated within or underneath the contacts and cause injury or blindness.