1 Not wearing eye protection. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that nearly three out of every five workers injured were not wearing eye protection at the time of the incident.

2 Wearing the wrong kind of eye protection for the job. About 40 percent of the injured workers were wearing some form of eye protection when the incident occurred. These workers were most likely to be wearing protective eyeglasses with no side shields, though injuries among employees wearing full-cup or flat-fold side shields occurred, as well.

3 Flying particles. BLS found that almost 70 percent of the incidents studied resulted from flying or falling objects or sparks striking the eye. Injured workers estimated that nearly three-fifths of the objects were smaller than a pin head. Most of the particles were said to be traveling faster than a hand-thrown object when the incident occurred.

4 Contact with chemicals caused one-fifth of the injuries. Other incidents were caused by objects swinging from a fixed or attached position, like tree limbs, ropes, chains, or tools which were pulled into the eye while the worker was using them.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics