Factors Influencing Worker Use of Personal Protective Eyewear

Objective: To identify the array of factors that influence a workers' decision to wear personal protective eyewear (PPE) and the barriers that exist in preventing their use.

Design: A series of focus groups enrolled workers and supervisors primarily from manufacturing, construction, and service/retail with exposure to eye injury hazards in their job tasks. Focus group sessions collected qualitative and quantitative data in two categories, “sought information” and “emergent themes”, related to the use of PPE.

Results: There were 7 group meetings with 51 participants, 36 (71%) males and 15 (29%) females ranging in age from 19 to 64 years old, from a variety of occupations including construction (24%), production (22%), installation, repair and maintenance (14%), and healthcare (10%). Most were highly experienced in their occupation (>10 years)and had received some safety training in the past (82%). A conceptual model that summarizes the “sought information” and “emergent themes” is presented that depicts the decision making process for the factors influencing use of PPE and consists of three primary branches; perceptions of hazards and risks, “barriers” to PPE usage, and enforcement and reinforcement. Lack of comfort/fit, and fogging and scratching of the eyewear were suggested as the most important barriers to PPE usage. Younger age and lack of safety training were other important factors affecting use of PPE.

Conclusions: The results suggest that there are several potentially modifiable factors that increase worker usage of PPE and supervisors should provide ongoing positive feedback on PPE usage to workers.