1. A
PRICELESS POSSESSION
Let's take a quick elementary test ... how many basic senses are we endowed with at
birth, and name each of them. Is it one ... two . . four? ... I'm sure we'll all agree the
answer is five, and these five senses are SIGHT. .. HEARING. . TASTE.. TOUCH... SMELL. And
now to pose a more serious problem. Supposing we were faced with the sacrificing of four
of these five basic senses, which one would we retain? If we are to go along with the
average, we definitely would retain the sense of SIGHT. And yet on so many occasions how
lightly we treat this most priceless possession.
The eye is so much like a camera, and yet
so intangible in value. A camera consists primarily of a lens, usually rather expensive.
This lens gathers light rays, focuses them, and forms an image on a sensitized film, thus
mechanically creating a picture.
The eye, too, has a very valuable lens.
The eye also consists of the retina, iris, cornea and optic nerve These five members of
the human body, in an almost supernatural fashion, coordinate their activities to transmit
impulses to the brain and it is these impulses that provide vision, the miracle of color
perception and the ability to learn. Eighty percent of everything we know comes through
the eyes
It is a moral obligation to take care of
our eyes, but we still neglect them. I recall investigating an accident in which a man
lost the sight of one eye when a grinding wheel exploded. This man wore a pair of safety
goggles at the time of the accident, but unfortunately they were on his forehead. The
ironic part of this story is that the injured person an ardent camera 'bug,' owned many
valuable cameras, and the lens of each was well protected with a leather cap type cover,
this to eliminate the slightest scratch or piece of lint. Something that could be judged
in dollars and cents was worth protecting, but his own sight was just taken for granted.
Medical science today works near
miracles, but we were given just two eyes and science will not replace them. Let's keep
them and take care of them.
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2.
FORESIGHT PRESERVES EYESIGHT
"He should have worn his safety glasses." That's a hindsight statement that
crops up every time someone suffers an eye injury. And too often it's too late; someone's
eyesight is gone, due to lack of foresight!
You've always got to
remember that there are serious eye dangers involved in construction work -flying
particles of dirt, dust, rust, rock, bits of concrete - and the only answer is EYE
PROTECIION!
Any time you see that you
are going to be exposed to special eye hazards, use foresight; wear eye protection. Your
good judgment will tell you when anyone's sight will be in special danger -when work is
going to be done with jack-hammers, when men work underneath materials with
loosely-clinging particles, (be sure to wear hard hats, too) . . . or when you are working
outside in windy weather.
If any member of your
crew gets something in his eye, serious injury can be prevented by hustling him off to
first aid. No one but a professional medical person should ever try to remove anything
from an eye if it's near the pupil, or if there is bleeding, or if a particle appears to
be imbedded, or if it appears that there might be a puncture or other injury. In such
case, simply place a clean pad lightly over the eye and rush the man to a doctor.
Eyesight is precious . .
. and irreplaceable. Foresight can save vision . . . but the best of hind. sight can never
bring it back, once it's lost!
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3. LAST TO
GO
Man is gifted with a number of abilities. Some of them are known as senses. Man is
able to see, hear, smell feel or touch, and he can taste. These are the well known five
senses. Sometimes we talk of a sixth sense. . that of perception or intuition. Some people
have a remarkable sense of perception or uncanny intuition. In some people, one or more of
the six senses is more highly developed than the others For example, a handicapped person
very often overdevelops one sense in order to compensate for another that has been lost.
Many a blind person has a super sense of hearing or touch.
Considering how dependent
you are upon all your senses - what sense, if you had to, would you be willing to give up?
Let's take a hypothetical situation. For some reason or other, you have to part with one
of your senses. The choice would be yours. Most people would probably vote to give up the
sense of touch. While very difficult to live without, a loss of the sense of touch might
not pose the problems that the loss of one of the other senses could cause.
Probably the next to go would be smell.
In some people's book, this might be the first to go. Others might rank the sense of taste
as less important than the sense of smell. Some would want to retain the sense of taste
over the sense of smell, even though some experts tell us that the taste buds do not work
accurately when the sense of smell is not present.
The last two senses to be
given up in anyone's book would be the sense of hearing and the sense of sight. While no
one would like to be deaf, he would rather be deaf than blind. It is almost universally
accepted that the sense of sight is the most precious sense we have. It would be the last
to go on any imagined or hypothetical list.
But consider this: Why is
it that workmen take so many chances with their most precious sense? Every day people are
blinded or suffer serious eye juries because of failure to wear protective eye
It is almost as if the
sense of sight was considered the least valued on the list . . . instead of the Last to
go.
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4. NEOSTIVE
REACTION
Remember the excitement an eclipse of the sun could cause years ago? Eclipses, of
course, are still a rare event, but in this age of space rocketry, television and all the
other modern-day wonders, eclipses just aren't the exciting event they once were.
As a forthcoming eclipse
was announced, people would scurry about to find some tinted or smoked material to look
through. One of the more popular items was a photograph negative. The darker the negative,
the better. A photograph negative was considered to be excellent filter to see the notched
out portion of the sun. The anxious spectator would hold it over his eyes and turn his
face skyward. He would be gazing directly into the blazing sun with only a piece of
blackened celluloid covering his eyes.
The number of damaged
human eyes will never be known. The only factor that precluded serious and permanent eye
damage to millions was the limited frequency of eclipse occurrences.
In the beginning, the
risks were taken unknowingly. But even as the hazards of sun gazing became known and were
publicized, some people still took the chance in order to see one of nature's rare shows.
People today often take
chances with their eyes that are about as foolish as gazing at the sun through a
photograph negative. The welder's helper that uses plain sunglasses or turns his head
slightly to avoid a direct look at the arc is taking a worse gamble than the eclipse
gazer. The passerby who stares fascinated at a welding arc might as well be looking at the
sun through an inadequate filter.
The workman using a bench
grinder or performing a chipping operation without adequate eye protection makes the
old-time sungazer look like a small time risk-taker.
The thing that saved the eyes of the
eclipse watchers was the rarity of the event. Inirequency oi a certain task or job will
not save a workman's eyes. Many blinding eye injuries occurred the first time the person
ever used the grinding wheel or an air gun.
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5. NEVER
LET DOWN
People who must wear glasses become so accustomed to them that the minor disadvantages
of wearing them are seldom thought of keeping-them clean, having an extra article of
personal gear to look after, keeping the prescription current, being careful not to break
them. Some people have worn glasses for so long that the small inconveniences become
instinctive. They seldom even come to mind.
Not too many years ago, a lot of people
needing glasses went to the nearest "five and dime" store for them. The person
needing glasses selected a pair comfortably, and if he or she could read the newspaper
usually supplied at the counter, the spectacles were purchased and the failing eyesight
problem was solved. Little concern was given to underlying causes that might cause loss of
sight.
Times have changed. Most people now go to
eye specialists for their prescriptions and as the condition of their eyes change, the
specialists adjust the prescription to correct or accommodate changes in the eyes.
A lot of people regard eye protection in
the same casual way that the early purchasers of "something to see with" did.
One of the advantages the constant or frequent wearer of glasses has is that he usually
selects his eyewear with thought and care for protection both on and off the job. People
who do not wear glasses seem to be more lax in wearing eye protection when it is necessary
or required. They just seem to forget to put it on How could someone thirty or forty years
ago trust a pair of glasses bought at a counter of a local variety store? The same person
asking that question will often trust to luck that an eye injury could never happen to
him.
Never let down on eye protection. Always
wear proper eye protection even when a hazard to your eyes seems very remote.
Safety is a simple thing that may add a
little time and bother to the job, but without it you may never get the job done.
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