OSHA’s eye and face protection standard, Australian Standard 1336-1982, requires employees use eye protection when they will be exposed to eye or face hazards such as liquid chemicals, molten metal, chemical gases or vapours, flying objects, acids or caustic liquids, which have the potential to cause minor to life changing eye injuries.

OSHA recommends that when choosing goggles there must seal around the face. There cannot be any gaps. Goggles need to have a strap that adjusts. You will require special task lenses in some instances such as for chemical spraying, gas cutting, degreasing, woodworking, or grinding.

Ensure that the protective eyewear you choose is appropriate for the hazards of your job. This will ensure optimum protection. There are also safety goggles that fit over your prescription glasses. SA proper fit is important. Pay attention to the bridge, temple area, and eye area.

Companies should require all employees to have their eyes tested annually to ensure they have satisfactory vision. Outside workers should be required to have UV protection lenses, and because Women have a more difficult time getting safety goggles to fit properly and comfortably, employers should ensure women are wearing correctly fitted safety glasses.

90% of all eye injuries in the workplace could be prevented, with the use of eye protection. Employers need to enforce their policies and procedures relating to eye protection.

Proteus PRO- Case is a new waterproof, shockproof, snowproof, mudproof, dustproof and sandproof iphone 4 case that is IXP7* certified (measure of water resistance, one metre immersion for 30 minutes.)

The case is sleek and weighs only 150g, the case allows the iphone to have normal full function of touch screen and both cameras with a scratchproof lens making all photo and video footage high-quality.

Iphone users know that their smartphone’s are not invincible but Drop, swim, fall, the PRO- Case does it all.

CEO of Proteus Protective Technologies Jim Lazarides says the case is harder than any other products currently on the market, it has 3 quick lock in screws and 5 inner impact absorbing rubber bumpers to ensure the lock, block and shock proof of the case.

“The hard impact proof shell gives you the opportunity to enjoy the broad range of functions the iphone gives you but now in all environments, most of which you wouldn’t want to take your iphone, “whether you’re a tradesman working on a job site, or you’re out on the water enjoying water sports or just going to the beach with your family, this case is everyday adventure proof,” Mr Lazarides says.

Studies have shown that 3.43 million Australians use iphones and being a nation with a great love of the outdoors means this protective iphone case can save customers thousands on a replacement.

Proteus Protective Technologies International Brand Manager Paul Taylor says iphones vulnerability to impacts and moisture damage are common knowledge particularly to the trades and services, mining and building sectors.

“The Proteus PRO- Case gives tradies, miners or anyone looking for protection for their iphone 100% confidence from the harsh environments work places can hold, such as dust, water, mud or sand,” Mr Taylor says.

The Proteus PRO –Case is sold at RRP $79.95 and comes with an attachable floating hi-vision wristband.

* IPX-7 rating. (IXP is an engineer’s measure of water resistance). IXP-7 means that product testing has shown the case can withstand water immersion at 1 meter (roughly 3 feet 3 inches) for 30 minutes without damage.

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Proteus Photo Protective Technologies the Western Australian based innovators in safety eyewear have appointed ASB Marketing Pty Ltd of Belmont WA as their sole Australian distributors.

Jim Lazarides the CEO of Proteus said “We have a great relationship with Andrew Bloom and his team at ASB marketing and it only makes sense that we expand on their initial roll as Western Australian agents for the Proteus brand.

Andrew has been very supportive and a key partner in the development of the brand in WA and has proved over the past couple of months that ASB is more than capable and extremely motivated to take Proteus to the number one safety eyewear & accessories brand in Australia.

This year ASB celebrates its 20th year in business and deals with all the big players across the mining, construction and corporate sectors.

We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship as we forge The Future Of Safety Eyewear.

Proteus Photo Protective Technologies released its range at the Mining Australia Exhibition Last week held at the Belmont Racecourse and received an overwhelming response from the industry.

Jim Lazarides the CEO of Proteus said “ Wow what an excellent response we have had over the 3 days of the show! We have met with many of the big players in the mining and civil construction sectors who have expressed great interest in our products.

The feed back from the Health and safety officers, workers and management across the industry has been valuable and indicated that the technical innovations along with the comfort style and fit of our range is what the industry wants.

We also took out best exhibitor prize in conjunction with our Australian distributors ASB Marketing. Needless to say we are very happy with the results and have written up some great orders along with talking with a number of interested parties to distribute internationally.

Its been a fantastic exercise and the Future is Bright for Proteus across the sector!

Proteus Photo Protective Technologies has partnered in lens technology with Carl Zeiss Vision (Sunlens), whose name has been around for over 100 years.

Sadly, the majority of eye injuries that occur at the workplace are the result of worker who have not worn any safety eyewear, making up 60% of eye injuries. Most eye injuries heal leaving only a small scar but impairing vision. However, when the eye doesn’t heal correctly a person can go completely blind.

When companies are proactive and require their employees to use safety eyewear the number of eye injuries decreases significantly. All protective eyewear needs to be fitted correctly to ensure you have the full protection you desire. 94% of eye injuries were caused by chemicals or particles that strike the eye are or the eye directly. In only 1.3% did the safety glasses fail, and in most cases, it was the result of a poorly fitted safety glasses, or protective goggles.

Eye injuries cost companies millions of dollars, when implementing a policy relating to the use of safety glasses or protective goggles costs only a fraction of that. Keeping workers safe is an integral role of all companies. It makes sense to prevent eye injuries before they occur, keeping employees seeing in the future.

In fact, eye injuries make up 21% of all workplace injuries in the area. On average, these injuries are men between the ages of 20 and 40. 32% work in construction, 25% work in manufacturing, and 15% work in mining. Eye injuries women suffer make up 23% of all eye injuries and are commonly in the food and service industries.

It’s important to reduce these numbers. Eye injuries can be life changing. While many are minor, serious eye injuries can result in blindness. Every year more than 8500 workdays are lost in Queensland due to eye injuries and every year 4000 workers compensation claims are filed for eye injuries. For the employers this is costly and results in lost production.

The key to changing these numbers and significantly improving them is in eye protection use. Policies and procedures should be changed to ensure safety glasses and protective goggles are used when necessary. Employees used to bulk at eye protection because it was bulky, uncomfortable, and ugly; however, today’s safety glasses are stylish safety glasses are stylish, comfortable, and lightweight so employees are much more likely to wear them.

The only way to reduce eye injuries is to improve working conditions through policy changes that reflect the use of safety glasses and protective goggles. Regardless of the eye policy at your workplace, take initiative for the care of your eyes and use safety glasses.

His knowledge, experience and ability to use the latest technology in order to create cutting edge designs — some of the best shapes to his markets in recent years — have resulted in large volume sales the world over.

This ability to hand design frames and sunglasses with all the secrets obtained through honing his craft over the years enable Jim to compliment and even pre-empt current design trends.

There are all kinds of minds but iron ore, coal, and copper are the three most common. These work sites cover a number of different environmental situations from being deep underground to working on the surface. Your eye protection needs to fit your specific work environment. Eye protection must be worn in all areas of the mine.

One of the biggest problems miners face is that their lenses become scratched. A good scratch resistant coating is required. Ripel coating is one of the newest technologies that enables oil, water, dirt, and dust to slide of the lens surface, which makes it one coating choice that miners should consider.

All eye protection, including safety glasses and protective goggles must be OHS compliant with either AS/NZS1337.1:2010 Eye and Face Protectors for Occupational Applications and AS/NZS1337.6 Prescription Eye Protectors for Industrial Applications.

The report will be a valuable resource for those in a position to bring about change, along with advocacy groups, and health care professionals. It’s apparent that more pressure must be put on employers to ensure the enforcement of employees wearing appropriate eye protection on the job.

For the period July 1999 to June 2005, a total of 8,640 workers compensation claims where filed related to eye injury or disease as the primary diagnosis were contained in the NOSI database 46% of eye injuries that arrive in the emergency department are associated with a foreign body in the eye. Nearly 50% of all eye injuries required medication and 40% required a procedural treatment.

The median time lost because of eye injury in total decreased from 2.0 weeks in 2000-01 to 1.6 weeks in 2004-05. Then the lost time began to increase again.

Get your free AIHW report to better understand the issue of eye injury.