EH-18 DOE Allows Contact Lenses With Respirators
ENVIRONMENT, SAFETY & HEALTH
BULLETIN
Assistant Secretary for U.S. Department of Energy
Environment, Safety, & Health Washington, D.C. 20585
DOE/EH-0025 Issue No. 18 November 1986
DOE Allows Contact Lenses With Respirators
The wearing of contact lenses while wearing full-face respirators has been
prohibited by DOE-prescribed OSHA and ANSI standards.* DOE has recently
amended those standards to allow contact lenses to be worn under respirators,
including negative pressure and continuous flow devices. The amendment is
based on a study conducted bv Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and on
the comments affirming its conclusions submitted by safety professionals at
DOE Operations Offices. The amendment applies to DOE contractor employees at
government-owned contractor-operated facilities.
Caution:
The use of contact lenses is voluntary. Employees must not be required to
wear contact lenses instead of spectacles.
1) Those who cannot comfortably wear contact lenses in everyday non-work
situations should not use them with respirators. The required medical reviews
of respirator users should include an evaluation of contact lens wearers to
determine if they have limitations which contraindicate their use of contact
lenses in respirators.
2) Eye irritation from dust or dirt in the facepiece can be exacerbated by
contact lenses. Thus the requirements to clean respirators and to store them
in a manner that protect them from dust must be followed.
LLNL Studied Fire Fighters
In 1984, because of the growing interest in contact lenses and the
regulations mentioned above, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) asked the Safety Science Group at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory to determine the facts about whether it is safe to wear
contacts while using a full-facepiece respirator. LLNL published their study
in 1985, in a 13-page report, "Is It Safe to Wear Contact Lenses with a
Full-Facepiece Respirator?" by Robert A. da Roza and Catherine Weaver.** This
study, which recommends removing the prohibition against contact lenses, is
apparently the only formal and exhaustive study of this subject.
A survey was used to determine the facts. 9100 questionnaires were
distributed to fire fighters around the country who use Self-Contained
Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA). Of the 1406 questionnaires that were returned,
403 fire fighters claimed to wear contacts with SCBA. Of those, only 34 had
had a safety-related problem caused by their contacts. In only eight
instances did contact lens problems cause a fire fighter to remove his
facepiece when he should not have. Of those eight, no one claimed to have had
a problem so severe that he could not have left the hazardous atmosphere area
before adjusting his lenses. The number of problems reportedly caused by
using eyeglasses in an SCBA was proportionately much higher than those caused
by contacts.***
Da Roza spoke with all of those reporting problems with contacts. Most
preferred contacts to the alternatives: not using corrective lenses and thus
not seeing clearly; wearing eyeglasses, which many claimed would not fit in
the facepiece of their SCBA or which often moved out of position or fogged up;
or resigning their jobs as fire fighters.
A few problems were reported by several respondents, however. Eight reported
that a lens was out of place, which could have blurred vision and caused
irritation. Many reported that dirt, smoke, particles, or fumes got into the
SCBA facepiece, hose, or fittings.
A particle under the lens could be caused by a dirty breathing hose or
facepiece when the SCBA is put on; the air flow would then blow any particles
around and some could get into the eye. This implies a lack of protection of
the SCBA itself from dirt while on the fire truck or in storage, especially
the facepiece and open hose connection.
Particles can also get under a contact lens if the SCBA wearer takes off his
facepiece in the staging area, which is often smoky. Changing bottles in the
staging area without taking off the facepiece or disconnecting the hose - a
procedure recommended in SCBA training films - eliminates this problem.
Some respondents experienced their lenses popping out but did not consider it
a serious problem. Usually the lenses were recovered later from inside the
facepiece, although one interviewee said he had lost about one lens per year
for the last six years.
Thirteen respondents reported that their contacts became dry. When dry,
contacts become cloudy. This occurs even in normal environments and
commercial eye drops alleviate the problem. SCBAs accelerate the potential
problem, however, since the air from the tank is very dry and blows across
the facepiece and past the eyes. The drying effect seems to vary with the
make of the mask and whether or not a nose cup is used. Drying can also be
affected by the number of hours the lenses have been worn and the wearer's
ability to produce tears. The time for drying to cause clouding of the lens
or irritation of the eye varies greatly. One user reported clouding in five
minutes, other users have had only one lens cloud, and many never experience
clouding. From the responses, it seemed that the time varied with the type
and make of contact lens.
The Study's Conclusions
Fire fighters did not experience problems wearing contacts with SCBA when:
1) they had adapted well to contact lenses in their daily activities;
2) the fire department subscribed to maintenance procedures that protected
SCBA equipment from dirt; and 3) the fire department subscribed to the
recommended procedure of changing bottles in the staging area without removing
facepieces or disconnecting hoses.
Similarly, most spectacle users did not experience problems using SCBA when
the fire department provided spectacle kits for fitting eyeglasses into the
facepiece properly. Those fire fighters who tried to wear eyeglasses with
standard temple bars under a full facepiece did not get an adequate seal or
proper protection. However, some facepieces, when together with certain
facial shapes, could not accommodate spectacle kits; therefore some fire
fighters were unable to wear spectacles under full-facepiece respirators.
A Selection of Responses from SCBA Users
Have you ever had any safety
problems caused by your corrective
lenses while wearing an SCBA?
Marking response
a. No 562
b. Yes, with eyeglasses 97
c. Yes, with contact lenses 34
d. Poor vision due to not 189
wearing corrective lenses
What was the nature of the problem
if with contact lenses?
Marking response
a. Not applicable 2
b. Lens out of place 8
c. Particle under lens 13
d. Hair under lens 0
e. Irritant fumes in eye 7
f. Eyes too dry 13
g. Eyes too wet 1
h. Other 5
What type of contact lens were you
wearing when the problem occured?
Marking response
a. Hard 12
b. Soft 11
c. Extended wear 9
d. Not applicable 3
Would you prefer to wear contact
lenses instead of eyeglasses with
and SCBA?
Marking response
a. Yes 618
b. No 177
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*Order DOE 5480.4, "Environmental Protection, Safety, and Health Protection
Standards."
Order DOE 5483.1A, "Occupational Safety and Health Program for the DOE
Contractor Employees at Government-Owned Contractor-Operated Facilities."
Title 29 CFR 1910.134, "Respiratory Protection"
ANSI Z88.2-1980, "Practices for Respiratory Protection"
**The full report can be obtained from: National Technical Information
Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Va.
22161.
***Note: Wearing eyeglasses that penetrate the facepiece seal is prohibited
by OSHA and ANSI standards.
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Bulletin is published so that DOE program managers and contractors can share
information about potential occupation safety problems relevant to DOE
operations. For more information or additional copies, contact Nona Shepard,
Editor, Office of Operational Safety, Assistant Secretary for Environment,
Safety & Health, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20545,
telephone FTS 233-2958; Commercial (301) 353-2958.
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