1. Eye Protection— The Case of the Flying Glass
P O W E R P O I N T ® T R A I N I N G
Background for the Trainer:
This case and its training message primarily have to do with eye protection. Therefore, it is most appropriate for employees who are exposed to potential eye hazards. This session is probably not appropriate for workers who are never exposed to potential eye hazards.
This training session presents a case study of an actual accident inspected and documented by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). The case presented in this training session is:
Accident:
Report ID:
Inspection:
You may choose to present this training information in a lecture format, or make the training presentation interactive by engaging your class in discussions that will help them identify facts of the case, potential causes of the accident, and future accident prevention measures. In either case, students will benefit by learning from a real-life scenario.
Before beginning your training session, print and make copies of the one-page Case Study Student Handout, which is provided on the disk as a fully customizable Word document. The Case Study Student Handout can be used as a worksheet during the training session, or as a take-away reminder once the training session is complete.
Also, print and make copies of the Case Study Quiz, which is provided on the disk as a fully customizable Word document. The students can take the quiz at the end of the training session in order to help reinforce the information presented. Note that the same quiz is included at the end of this PowerPoint® presentation as actual slides to review in class.
Consider taking pictures of employees wearing eye protection in your workplace. You can add these pictures to the presentation by inserting them into existing slides or creating new slides.
Make sure the trainees understand the message as you go along. Ask questions periodically to test their understanding.
Speaker’s Notes:
Welcome everyone. Today we will review a case study of an actual accident investigated by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). This is an actual tragic workplace accident that had real-life implications for the worker, the worker’s family, co-workers, and the employer.
The purpose of this training session is to teach and reinforce the importance of eye protection in our workplace in order to prevent tragic accidents. In particular, it deals with how to assess the workplace for potential eye hazards. The intention is to learn from the accident and take steps to prevent a similar accident from occurring in our workplace.
Eye Protection—
The Case of the Flying Glass

2. Let’s Talk About the Stats
1,000 workers suffer eye injuries each day
100,000 eye injuries result in vision loss each year
70% of eye injuries are caused by flying or falling objects
90% of workplace eye injuries could have been prevented
Speaker’s Notes:
The number of eye injuries occurring each day and each year in America is staggering considering the emphasis on safety and particularly, eye safety, in today’s workplaces.
According to Prevent Blindness America ( each day of the calendar year results in another 1,000 workers suffering a serious eye injury. The workers’ compensation costs, including doctor visits and wage reimbursement for lost work time, each year amount to more than $450 million.
Approximately 100,000 of the annual eye injuries result in temporary or permanent vision loss.
70% of eye injuries are caused by flying or falling objects. More than half, about 60%, of these flying or falling objects are smaller than the head of a pin and include very fine particles of dust.
According to OSHA, 90% of the occupational eye injuries could have been avoided through the use of proper protective eyewear.

3. Take a Look at the Facts Pump cannot transfer chemicals
Valve closed to build pressure
Pressure increases to 25 psi
Background for the Trainer:
Training Option: Pass out the Case Study Student Handout. You may have the students read the accident description to themselves before discussing it in the class, or you may use the bullet points on the slide and the speaker’s notes below to describe the accident.
Speaker’s Notes:
A centrifugal pump system is unable to transfer a chemical mix to the sparger or fill tank.
Employees close the valve of the vent line to the sparge tank to build pressure to blow the chemical mixture into the sparger and fill tank.
Pressure in the system increases to approximately 25 psi.
Air begins leaking around the sight glass because of the increased pressure.
Air leaking around sight glass

4. Take a Look at the Facts (cont.)
Employee not wearing eye protection
Eye hazard assessment not done
PPE training not done
Speaker’s Notes:
The employee is not wearing any type of eye protection.
Further investigation found that the employer had not conducted an assessment of the facility to determine the necessary PPE needed by employees.
The employer has not instructed or trained employees in the wearing of PPE.
© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 0908

5. Take a Look at the Facts (cont.)
Employee tightens sight glass bolts
Glass shatters and strikes employee in the eye
Employee hospitalized
Speaker’s Notes:
The employee attempts to torque the bolts of the sight glass.
The glass shatters and a piece strikes him in his right eye.
The employee is hospitalized.
© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 0908

6. What Do You Think Went Wrong?
Why was the employee not wearing eye protection?
What caused the sight glass to shatter?
Would the accident have been prevented if an eye hazard assessment had been done?
What type of training is needed for eye protection?
Background for the Trainer:
Use the questions on this slide to elicit discussion.
Training options: After reviewing this slide and the accident description, give the class 5 to 10 minutes to discuss the accident description in small groups; or ask the students to try to determine some of the facts, potential causes, and possible prevention measures. In either case, use the Case Study Student Handout as a way to encourage discussion as you go through this presentation.
Speaker’s Notes:
Let’s take a few minutes and, using the Case Study Student Handout, work in groups to try to determine the facts of the accident, potential causes of the accident, and possible prevention measures. Then we will review the Case Study together in class.
Consider some of the questions on this slide when discussing the Case Study in your groups.

7. Let’s Review the Causes
Pressure in system
Failure of sight glass
Process not aborted after leak discovered
No eye protection used
Background for the Trainer:
Try to get the trainees to put themselves in the place of the person in the case study. What would they have done in this case? Point out how a near miss can turn into a catastrophe in the presence of emergencies. In this case, the worker was probably not aware of the potential hazard and did not think eye protection was necessary.
Speaker’s Notes:
The employees intentionally built up pressure in the system by closing the valve of the vent line. They hoped this increase in pressure would help the pump system transfer the chemical mixture into the fill tank. Instead, they created a dangerous situation by increasing the pressure in the system beyond what it was designed to handle.
The failure of the sight glass caused shattered pieces of glass to fly out and strike the employee in the eye. Glass components in a chemical process, such as sight glasses and flow meters, should be replaced by more modern, reliable, and safe equipment that will not fail or shatter like a glass component.
The employees did not stop the process of building up pressure in the system after discovering the air leak around the sight glass. Instead of stopping the chemical pumping process before repairing the leak, the employee leaned his face toward a danger zone while attempting to fix the air leak when pressure was still in the system. The process should have been stopped immediately after the leak was discovered.
The employee was not wearing any eye protection despite working with chemical processes.
The employee was not made aware of potential eye hazards by the employer. OSHA requires employers to assess the workplace for potential eye hazards and then selecting eyewear that is designed to protect workers from the potential hazards. However, this employer had not gone through the PPE Hazard Assessment process.
The employee was not trained on what kind of eye protection should be worn to protect against the potential eye hazards in the workplace. Training should include: potential eye hazards; types of eye protection available; how to properly put on, wear, and remove eye protection; maintenance, inspection, care, and storage of eye protection; and when to replace eye protection.
Can you think of any other causes that may have contributed to this accident?
Untrained employee not aware of potential hazard

8. Hazard Assessment Flying particles Molten metals Liquids
Acids or caustic liquids
Gases or vapors
Injurious light radiation
Speaker’s Notes:
OSHA requires every employer to evaluate the workplace for potential eye and face hazards.
Flying particles can include flying objects or falling dusts. Flying objects are impact hazards and can include fragments, chips, particles, sand, and dirt that are generated from work processes that might include chipping, grinding, masonry work, woodworking, sawing, drilling, chiseling, powered fastening, riveting, sanding, etc. Dust hazards fall slowly toward the ground and can include wood, fibers, foam, soot, etc., that come from work processes such as woodworking, buffing materials, cleaning with compressed air, etc.
Molten metals, hot sparks, or extreme temperatures could cause serious damage to your eyes. Work processes involving exposure to these hazards might include foundry work, furnace operations, or welding.
Almost all liquids can do some form of damage when they contact your eyes. The injury can range from mild redness or irritation to severe chemical burns. Working with open chemical tanks and chemical spray or misting operations exposes workers to potential eye injury.
Acids or caustic liquids are especially dangerous chemicals to work with because of the amount of damage they can do to your eyes. Protect your eyes even when handling only small quantities of acids or chemicals.
Some gases or vapors may even cause damage to your eyes. Cryogenic gases such as propane can cause cold temperature burns. Certain toxic liquid chemicals will give off vapors that can cause damage to the eyes.
Injurious light radiation comes from high-intensity sources of light, such as welding or lasers. Welder’s flash occurs when a person’s eyes are overexposed to the welding light. This often occurs when welders strike the arc a split second before dropping their face shield with a filter lens over the eyes.

9. Keys to Eye Protection Safety glasses Safety goggles Face shields
Protective filter lenses
Background for the Trainer:
Bring any written procedures your company has for wearing personal protective equipment – specifically eye protection.
Show pictures of workers wearing eye protection in your workplace.
Speaker’s Notes:
Safety glasses provide protection from flying objects. Safety glasses must meet certain impact standards, shatter standards, and chemical resistance standards to ensure they will properly protect workers. Safety glasses must comply with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard Z87.1. Those that meet this standard will be marked “Z87.” Normal sunglasses or prescription glasses will not meet these standards and could fail or shatter when struck by a flying object.
Safety goggles are needed to protect against small floating particles. Safety glasses will not protect against dust because the dust will float behind the glasses. Goggles seal to the face with a rubber or foam seal to protect your eyes from dust. Goggles are typically made of a plastic material and also seal to your face to protect your eyes from liquid chemicals. Be sure to select goggles that will protect against the specific chemicals you are working with. Also, never remove goggles without first washing your forehead and the top of the goggles, because chemicals that may have accumulated on top of the goggles can drip into your eyes when you remove the goggles.
A face shield is designed to protect your face from flying objects, chemical splashes, molten metal, hot slag from welding, etc. Be sure the face shield is designed to protect against the specific hazard you are facing. Also, remember the face shield is not a replacement for eye protection. Wear a face shield over safety glasses or goggles. The face shield is additional protection for your face, not protection for your eyes.
Filter lenses protect your eyes from the light radiation of welding or lasers. Select the appropriate amount of shading for the type of work you are doing. For example, torch brazing does not require as much shading as gas metal arc welding. As a rule of thumb, start with a shade that is too dark to see the weld zone—then go to a lighter shade that gives a sufficient view of the weld zone.

10. Don’t Let It Happen to You
Assess eye hazards
Select proper eye protection
Maintain eye protection
Always wear eye protection
Speaker’s Notes:
Let’s take a look at what we can do to prevent a similar incident from happening at our facility.
Assess every job and task in your workplace for potential eye hazards.
Select eye protection that is appropriate for the potential eye hazards in your workplace.
Maintain your eye protection by inspecting it daily. Look for any signs of cracks, wear, chemical damage, or other signs of damage that may reduce the integrity of the eye protection. Also make sure there is no damage that will interfere with your ability to see through the eye protection. Discard any damaged eye protection and replace it. Keep eye protection clean. Store eye protection in a manner that it will not be damaged.
Wear eye protection all the time. Make sure you know how to properly wear the eye protection in order to ensure it will function correctly and protect you from the eye hazards of your job. Select eye protection that fits correctly and comfortably.
Are there any questions?
Thanks for your attention.

11. Quiz
1. What type of eye protection is needed when a worker is exposed to fine dusts?
2. How do you know if your safety glasses meet safety standards?
3. Name two types of work processes that might generate flying objects.
4. OSHA requires the employer to assess the workplace for eye hazards. True or False
Background for the Trainer:
Remind employees that the quiz is to encourage further discussion and to help you, the trainer, be sure that everyone understands what was discussed.
Print copies of the quiz for participants to take on their own, or go over the questions as part of the training session.

12. Quiz (cont.)
5. How many workers suffer a serious eye injury each day of the year?
6. A face shield can be worn in place of chemical goggles. True or False
7. When should eye protection be replaced?
8. How do you protect your eyes from welder’s flash?
© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 0908

13. Quiz Answers
1. Q. What type of eye protection is needed when a worker is exposed to fine dusts?
A. Safety goggles.
2. Q. How do you know if your safety glasses meet safety standards?
A. They are marked with “Z87.”

14. Quiz Answers (cont.)
3. Q. Name two types of work processes that might generate flying objects.
A. Chipping, grinding, sawing, drilling, chiseling, riveting, sanding, etc.
4. Q. OSHA requires the employer to assess the workplace for eye hazards. True or False
A. True
© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 0908

15. Quiz Answers (cont.)
5. Q. How many workers suffer a serious eye injury each day of the year?
A. 1,000
6. Q. A face shield can be worn in place of chemical goggles. True or False
A. False, a face shield is additional protection for your face and should be worn over safety glasses or goggles.
© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 0908

16. Quiz Answers (cont.) 7. Q. When should eye protection be replaced?
A. When there are signs of damage or when vision is obstructed
8. Q. How do you protect your eyes from welder’s flash?
A. Wear eye protection with the appropriate filter lens
© Business & Legal Reports, Inc. 0908