Campaign Needed To Stop Eye Accidents

Chronicle (Levin), 6 February 1948, Page 3

Campaign Needed To Stop Eye Accidents

DUNEDIN, Eeb. 4. The urgent necessity for a campaign aimed at the prevention of eye aceidents in industry in New Zealand and the possibility of almost a 100 • per cent. degree of success with such a campaign, if efficientlv organised, were basic points of an address given at Ihe annual conferenee of the Opthaltnological Society of New Zealand by Dr. W. J, Hope-Robertson, of 'Wellington, today. He emphasised that such a campaign would more than pay for itself, and would be of the greatest beneiit to both workers and employers. Injuries of this type, he said, caused needless suffering, resulted in the loss of thousands of nian-power hours, and cost insurance eompanies and industrjal organisations vast sums of money annually, yet it was usuallv found that practically every accident of this type could be prevented. Some measures for the prevention of accidents were written into industrial awards, but in the great majority _ of cases the pxecautions .were not carried out at all, or were carried out in aj half-hearted fashion. The most satisfaetory method of preventing eye accidents was in the enforcement of5 the wearing of goggles.

Large nurnbers of workers in New Zealand refused to wear goggles because no attempt was made to see that the goggles provided litted properly, and \ no attempt was inade to service andi maintain them. j Stringent measures to see that such j equipment was made available, and was ; used, would mean the eutting of eye accidents in industry to a fractiou of the present nurnbers and cost.