How Do Most Workplace Eye Injuries Occur?

Unfortunately, eye injuries can greatly limit a person’s ability to work or function normally, leaving victims permanently blind and/or disabled.

Recently, the Upper Rogue Independent had an interesting editorial about eye injury incidents, discussing how common they are in the United States. Dr. Dean R. Brown, an optometrist, wrote the piece. According to Brown, about 2.5 million eye injury accidents occur each year in the U.S., with about 50,000 injuries resulting in some degree of permanent vision loss.

Some eye injury incidents occur due to workplace accidents, sports activities and household accidents. According to the Independent, of those that do occur at work, about 70 percent involve flying objects striking a victim’s eye. Additionally, about 20 percent involve chemical exposure. It should be noted that in about three out of five eye injury workplace accidents, victims are not wearing protective eyewear at the time of an incident.

“The total cost of workplace related eye injuries in lost production, medical expenses and workers compensation is over $300 million per year,” Brown wrote, urging employers to invest in eye protection.

Speaking to an Attorney About an Eye Injury Accident

Remember, if you are injured at work in Texas, it may be in your best interest to speak to an attorney. In Monday’s blog, we brought up how Texas has some of the most unique workers’ compensation laws in the country. These laws greatly affect people who suffer eye injuries at work.

In Texas, employers have the option to decline participating in the workers’ compensation system. When this occurs, employers are called non-subscribers. If you suffer an eye injury at work, if your employer is a subscriber, you can obtain compensation for items like lost income, medical treatment and in some unfortunate cases, you can obtain pay for the severity of your impairment based on a rating system.

If your employer is not a subscriber, of which nearly 40 percent of Texas businesses are not, you can file a lawsuit and seek damages. Under this circumstance, you only need to prove that your injury was at least 1 percent the fault of your employer.

The Law Offices of Aaron Allison – Austin Personal Injury Attorney

[Did You Know? According to the CDC, each day, more than 600 U.S. workers experience an eye injury that results in one or more lost workdays.]