Dry eyes for factory workers

Factory work dries the eyes through industrial fans and air movement, heat from ovens, presses and furnaces, airborne dust, and long shifts of close focus. Required safety eyewear always comes first. Around it, stay out of direct fan blasts, take short blink breaks, wash your hands before touching your eyes and use a lubricating drop as labeled on breaks. A splash or debris in the eye is an emergency for a doctor, not a drop.

Why do my eyes get dry working in a factory?

The tear film that keeps your eyes comfortable is thin, and it evaporates faster in moving, warm or dusty air. A production floor often has all three at once:

• Big floor fans and overhead fans keep workers cool but push air across the eyes for hours.
• Heat from ovens, molding machines, furnaces or welding areas dries the air near them.
• Dust from grinding, cutting, sanding, packaging or raw materials gets into the eyes and irritates them.
• Inspection, assembly and machine monitoring call for steady focus, which slows blinking.
• Long or rotating shifts leave less time to rest the eyes between workdays.

Safety eyewear comes first

Nothing in this guide replaces the protective eyewear your job requires. OSHA’s rule on eye and face protection, 29 CFR 1910.133, says employers must make sure workers use appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to hazards such as flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or injurious light. Where objects can fly, the protection must include side protection. Workers who wear prescription glasses need protection that either builds in the prescription or fits over it properly.

If your safety glasses feel uncomfortable, don’t take them off or modify them. Talk to your supervisor or safety coordinator. Different sizes and styles fit faces differently, and some close-fitting styles also block more of the moving air around the eyes. The right pair for the job is their call, not something to improvise.

Do safety goggles help dry eyes?

They can help a little as a side effect. Goggles and wraparound safety glasses that sit close to the face reduce how much fan air and dust reaches the eye. They aren’t a remedy for dryness, and they’re chosen for the hazards at your station, not for comfort. If your eyes feel dry under them, keep wearing them and use the other steps here.

Fans, heat and where you stand

Small changes to position often make the biggest difference over a shift:

• Angle a personal fan at your chest or back rather than your face, if your workstation allows.
• Stand to the side of a large floor fan’s airflow when you have a choice.
• Turn away from hot air coming off a press, oven door or furnace when it opens.
• On breaks, sit somewhere out of the fan path and away from heat sources.
• Drink water through the shift, especially in hot areas.

Our guide to dry eyes in a hot, dry workplace goes further into heat specifically.

Dust and dirty hands

Rubbing your eyes with work gloves or dusty fingers adds more irritation. Before you touch your eyes, take off gloves and wash your hands. Blink several times if your eyes feel gritty, and if something feels stuck, use the eyewash station and tell your supervisor rather than digging at it.

If something gets in your eye

A chemical splash, a metal chip, a wood splinter or anything that hits the eye with force is an emergency. Follow your plant’s emergency procedure, use the eyewash station, and get medical help. OSHA’s first aid rule, 29 CFR 1910.151, requires facilities for quick flushing of the eyes within the work area wherever workers may be exposed to corrosive materials, so learn where yours is before you need it. A lubricating eye drop is not for injuries, chemicals or embedded debris.

Using eye drops on a factory shift

Quell is a preservative-free lubricating drop designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. Its label gives the Uses as For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye and the directions as: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. Three times a day fits neatly around a typical shift: before you start, at lunch and at the end.

• Use drops on a break, away from the line, with clean hands.
• Follow the handling line: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.
• Read the caution before your first bottle: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only.
• Don’t share a bottle with coworkers.

Where to keep the bottle

The label’s storage line reads: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A locker in a climate-controlled break room is usually fine. A locker beside a furnace, a truck cab in July, or a car in a winter lot may not be. If your plant is hot, keep the bottle in your lunch bag in the break room rather than on the floor. For more on getting a supply to work, see shipping eye drops to a job site.

Long shifts and nights

Rotating shifts and overtime can leave eyes uncomfortable even with good habits at work. Sleep and a break from screens after the shift help. Our guides on the night shift and warehouse work cover similar settings.

When to see a doctor

If your eyes stay irritated after a weekend off, or hurt, get them checked. The label sets the line: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours. Any eye injury at work should be reported and examined.