Objective This study was designed to reveal the relationship between the use and type of eye protection and the occurrence of work-related corneal and conjunctival foreign body injuries.

Methods This is a retrospective cohort study of patients with work-related corneal and/or conjunctival foreign body injuries between 1 August 2017 and 31 July 2018. They were all diagnosed and treated at Jia Ding Hospital affiliated to the Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Shanghai, China. All patients received a comprehensive eye examination and a face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire by ophthalmologists.

Results A total of 426 consecutive patients were included in the study. The majority of work-related eye injuries occurred in men (94.17%). Summer was the season that had the highest incidence of eye injuries, especially in July and August (38.03%). There were 290 patients (68.08%) that were injured more than once. The ratio of eye protection use to non-protection was 1:7 at the first time of eye injury. The ratio improved to 1:3 on subsequent injury. A majority of employers (79.11%) provided eye protection to employees. However, 19.95% of the workers were injured despite wearing a pair of protective spectacles. The causes of work-related eye injury were as follows: no eye protections provided (20.89%); unawareness of work safety (30.99%); defect of spectacles (47.18%).

Conclusions Protection use at work effectively prevents work-related eye injuries. Both employers and employees require improved awareness of workplace hazards and personal protection. Eye protection should be selected appropriately according to the work environment.