‘It happens in a flash’: The serious workplace injury that’s on the rise

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Workplace eye injuries requiring emergency surgery have risen over the past five years, with an emergency doctor saying it is being fuelled by young tradies shunning safety goggles amid a construction boom.

Doctors at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital say more tradesmen in their 20s and 30s have been presenting to the emergency department each year with eye injuries caused by flying nails, wire, concrete and power tool parts.

Elia Koyanasau lost sight in his right eye following a workplace accident in 2020.

“These are life-changing injuries,” said Dr Carmel Crock, the director of the hospital’s emergency department.

“It happens in a flash. You go from having two eyes and being able to see to losing vision.”

The hospital treats about 1800 patients with foreign bodies on the surface of their eyes every year. These are often removed with a needle.

Crock said about 90 per cent of these injuries could be avoided if people wore appropriate eye protection.

The more serious accidents, which involve penetrating eye injuries, rose from 58 cases in 2018 to 82 last year. Of these, 44 were work-related eye injuries, up from 31 in 2018.

These cases involve surgery to remove foreign matter lodged in the eye and require stitches to close the surface of the eye.

Crock said that while many new houses were being built and renovated throughout Melbourne, too many tradespeople were suffering injuries that could be prevented by wearing safety gear such as goggles.

“We need to think about eye protection like seatbelts,” she said. “Our attention to eye safety is not as good as it should be.”

Crock said these injuries inflicted psychological damage on patients and their families.

“People are concerned about whether they are going to be able to provide for their families,” she said.

The last thing Elia Koyanasau remembers before losing sight in his right eye was a boom.

He was inspecting work on a large construction project in Melbourne’s outer-west in 2020 when the tip of a pressure hose flew through the air and hit him in the eye.

“There was a bang and a blinding force as the tip hit me across my face,” the 40-year-old concreter recalled.

“I was in lots of pain, I was bleeding. I stumbled out and called out for help.”

Koyanasau had been using the high-powered hose earlier to clean up. He assumed it had been turned off.

While he was wearing goggles when the accident occurred, he had removed his face shield because he considered his job done. The tip of the hose managed to fly through a small gap between his face and the arms of his goggles.

His surgery took five hours.

“I now can only see shapes and a halo of light,” he said. “I can’t see the details of my daughter’s face with my bad eye.”

Koyanasau took two years off work following the accident and still experiences pain in his right temple, migraines and watery eyes.

He sees a psychologist and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Rachael James, road and workers’ compensation general manager at Slater and Gordon lawyers, described the hospital’s figures as “deeply concerning”.

“We continue to represent many clients, including a lot of tradespeople, who have sustained eye injuries at work,” she said.

“These injuries often result in the loss of their eyesight, which has a significant impact on their lives.”

James said employers must take every precaution to keep their employees safe.

“Fortunately, the law provides assistance to help people with their injuries, but nothing would be enough to replace their loss of their eyesight.”

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