Contact Lenses and Laboratory Safety

 Contact lens wearers have important safety rules. The laboratory is a hazardous place to work due to exposure to microorganisms, chemicals and flammables. An estimated 25 percent of users will acquire laboratory disease or injury. To prevent such occurrences, staff must execute good laboratory practice principles and adhere to health and safety guidelines.

Risk assessment of contact lenses shows a low risk of hazard to the user. Laboratory rules recommend not handling contact lenses while in the laboratory or with unwashed hands.
Historically, employees were prohibited from wearing contact lenses in laboratories. This prohibition was first applied in the 1960s by health care professionals concerned with the absorption and adsorption of substances through the contact lens surface. Medical personnel were also concerned about the time lost before the eyes could be flushed with treatment or further injury caused as the user attempted to remove the lens from the eye. Other scenarios for the prohibition included debris falling into the lens or contaminated hands transferring infectious material onto the lens. Both scenarios are still seen as a risk for potentially incapacitating the eye.
In the United States, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reviewed prohibition guidelines and published literature on chemical absorption and adsorption of contact lenses, and injuries involving contact lenses. NIOSH recommends that contact lens wearers use eye protection and never touch or handle lenses while in the laboratory. Additionally, hands should be washed to remove any microorganism, blood or chemical substance.
In the United Kingdom, the Health and Safety at Work Act and Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations both provide guidelines for general laboratory safety responsibilities for both the employer and the employee. This includes the employer providing safety information and emergency care for the employee and the employee being responsible for care of themselves, adhering to laboratory procedures and utilizing equipment competently.
To reduce the level of risk associated with contact lens use, staff should wash their hands after handling hazardous material and upon leaving the laboratory. Laboratory users should not place fingers into the mouth, eye, ears or nose while in the laboratory, and must cover cuts and abrasions with a waterproof bandage. Gloves should be taken into consideration depending on the nature of the work. Staff should never handle contact lenses while in the laboratory and should wear appropriate eye or face protection when the work is associated with potential splashes, spillages or fumes.
All laboratory users should know the location of a first aid kit, an emergency eye wash station and who to call in the event of an injury, such as the first aid medic or emergency call line from within the laboratory grounds.
General safety information and facilities should be made available to the laboratory user by the employer.
In the event of an eye emergency, the user should move to the nearest eye wash station and first aid personnel should be addressing the situation.
Some spillages and splashes are resolved from flushing the eye with saline three or more times. Some eye emergencies require more aggressive treatment and the first aid personnel should contact the emergency paramedics to attend to the situation.
Depending on the facilities on laboratory grounds, specialist eye medics (e.g., ophthalmologists) can quickly tend to the scene.
Every country and laboratory has its own guidelines as to what is deemed safe and what is not. In general, some guidelines are globally recognized and applied while in some places certain guidelines are not approved or applicable. For instance, mouth pipetting is prohibited in western countries while it is still applied in some developing countries. Within any laboratory, the user must familiarize himself with the local policies and emergency procedures.