The Importance of Caring For Your Senses at Work

People spend most of their time at work, which means that you need to consider how this impacts your health and wellbeing. Many people are damaging their senses while at work and may not realize it, which could create major and lasting problems down the line.

Why Protection is Key

Many injuries can be recovered from, but damage to your senses can often be permanent and have a significant impact on your quality of life and mental health. Long-lasting effects often get worse over time, so it is hugely important that you look after your senses at work. Potential damage is obvious in industries like construction, but even those in an office-based role could be doing damage that they are unaware of.

Protecting Your Eyes

Looking after your vision at work is essential as damage to your eyes and vision could be permanent and significantly impact your quality of life. Many people will work in roles that have hazards of debris, chemical splashback and other items that could cause sight damage and this is why goggles are so important in many industries. For those that work at a computer, you can do damage to your eyes from too much screen time. This is why it is important to take regular breaks throughout the day to give your eyes a rest.

Protecting Your Ears

Exposure to loud noises over a long period of time can cause long term and significant damage to your hearing. There are many industries where people are exposed to loud and potentially damaging sound, including construction, manufacturing, aviation and industrial businesses. Ear protection is available in the form of earplugs and ear defenders, which should be worn to protect the ears from exposure to potentially damaging noise levels.

Safety Clothing

It is also important that employees have access to high-quality safety clothing that will protect them against various different threats. Hard hats, high-vis jackets, protective gloves, lab coats and steel-toed shoes are just a few types of safety clothing that might be needed. The key is to carry out a risk assessment in your workplace to identify the potential hazards and then identify what PPE can be used to reduce the risk of an injury.

People need to consider the potential dangers to their senses in their role. People spend a huge amount of time at work, which means that if they are doing damage to their senses then this could be a serious issue that results in long-term damage. The potential dangers are not always obvious and even those in office roles could be doing damage, so this is an area that employers and staff need to work together to prevent damage from occurring.

In the worst-case scenario, if you find yourself working in a hazardous environment without the right protective equipment and you are injured due to negligence, you can make a personal injury claim.