Like apple pie and the American flag, most doctors and dispensers consider eye safety to be a noble quest, and accept helping patients protect their eyes as a professional responsibility. Yet, while industry's responsibility to provide on-the-job eye protection is well established, eye protection around the home or at play is a different story and is often more ignored than observed.

The situation is complicated by the fact that eye safety involves everyone, not just those who wear corrective lenses. Consequently, concerns about eye safety extend beyond the eyecare professions.

Eye safety was, in fact, in the news recently as a result of an industry-wide symposium held in the Washington, D.C. area. The industry's first National Eye Protection Symposium brought together representatives from leading industry and professional organizations with the stated goal of encouraging a closer relationship between organizations concerned with reducing eye injuries.

Participants felt there was a need to explore options on how to best educate the public on the need for eye protection, and they wanted more accurate ways of gathering accurate statistics on eye injuries. They also concurred that eyecare practitioners should inform patients of the need for protective frames and lenses.

Why? Because close to one million Americans have lost some degree of sight due to an eye injury, and more than 1,000 eye injuries occur in the workplace during each workday. Nearly 100,000 of those injuries are disabling.

These issues falls into three categories -- safety on the job, around the home, and in sports and leisure. Eyecare professionals are beginning to address eye safety around the home. Eye protection for sports and leisure has received a lot of attention through "duty to warn" responsibilities, and many practitioners have built a practice around sports vision. The category that is least understood by the three Os is, in fact, the most traditional form of eye safety -- industrial safety or protecting eyes on the job.

Big Business

American Optical, for years the world's largest optical manufacturer, established a major division of its company in the early part of this century specifically for developing industrial safety work. They became fierce competitors in the industrial safety field and for years virtually controlled that end of the business.

Recently, however, another has taken an active interest in industrial safety. Essilor of America has established a separate division to handle industrial safety work. Its acquisition of Gentex Optical, the world's largest polycarbonate manufacturer, launched this new division. They have since added an industrial safety sales force to call on industrial plants selling Essilor safety programs and also detail optometrists and ophthalmologists to encourage participation in safety.

And, don't forget: Every pair of prescription safety glasses requires a refraction, and this need provides substantial opportunities for private practitioners.

There are some substantial advantages for the optometrist or ophthalmologist who becomes involved in safety programs. Safety work helps keep the exam chair filled, but it often provides other opportunities as well. When handled properly, industrial eye exams can create additional sales of dress eyewear to plant employees. Equally important, every exam offers opportunities to bring the employee's family into the practice. Usually, special discounts are offered on dress eyewear for plant employees and their families.

Safety Lenses and Frames

Safety programs usually involve basic forms of lenses, but some programs will pay extra for photochromic lenses, with certain restrictions. Interestingly, many safety contracts will now also pay for progressives over bifocal/trifocals. Employers find that employees who wear progressives in dress eyewear simply refuse to wear bifocals in safety eyewear.

Today's safety frames are stylish and attractive; a far cry from 20 years ago. This can be a sore point with some practitioners. "How do you encourage employees to order dress glasses when their safety glasses look so good," is a frequent complaint from doctors involved in safety programs. The answer is to provide an attractive dress eyewear discount to the employee and make sure that while in your office, they are exposed to attractive frames not available in
safety form, such as rimless, titanium, etc. On the plus side, plant safety directors like today's attractive Z87 frames because employees are more apt to wear them.

Getting Started

When eyecare professionals decide to become involved in industrial safety, they have several options. One, of course, is to wait for a local employer to come to them. A better way is to talk to local laboratories to determine if they have a safety program. Every safety contract they sign involves a need for refractions, and adding providers is usually useful to the lab.

A more ambitious program is where the doctor puts together his or her own program and sells it to local industry. In almost any community, there are hundreds of small companies with two to 10 employees that don't have a safety program. It's doubtful that major safety providers ever get down to that level, and these small companies can be prime candidates for a doctor-involved safety program.

The industrial eyewear needs of local companies can be determined by sending out a professional letter or flyer. You can also uncover profitable industrial contacts by polling your own patients.

There's a strange paradox regarding industrial safety. In optical, it has traditionally been considered a low-cost, unprofitable segment of the business, while industrial employers have viewed eye safety as an expensive but necessary pain in the neck.

That's beginning to change, however. With new safety frame styles and the emergence of new lens technologies, eyecare
practitioners are now recognizing safety's potential. For their part, industrial employers have discovered that employees look on safety eyewear as a valuable employee benefit.

In developing and building the industrial eye protection portion of your practice, don't overlook the markets for eye protection for home and sports. By becoming an acknowledged eyewear safety expert, you will be serving your patients, community, and practice. EB