Assessment of Awareness and Usage of Personal Protective Eyewear Among Workers of Small-Scale Enterprises in Jimma City, Ethiopia: Cros-sectional study Design

In many workplaces around the world, the eyes are the most vulnerable part of the body. While the skin can heal from a cut and bones can mend after a break, a single sharp particle or a flash of intense light can cause permanent blindness. This risk is especially high in small workshops where metal is shaped by fire and wood is carved by hand. In these environments, workers face a constant barrage of invisible threats: flying shards of hot metal, clouds of fine dust, and blinding chemical fumes. To protect themselves, they rely on personal protective equipment, specifically eyewear designed to block these hazards. However, knowing that a danger exists is different from wearing the shield that stops it. Understanding why workers choose to wear safety glasses—or why they leave them off—is a critical step in preventing a leading cause of preventable blindness.

Researchers in Jimma City, Ethiopia, set out to understand this gap between knowledge and action among workers in small-scale metal and wood workshops. They focused on two groups: welders, who join metal with intense heat and light, and woodworkers, who shape timber with saws and chisels. The team visited these workshops over a summer, speaking directly with the men who worked there and watching them at their tasks. They wanted to see if the workers understood the risks, what kind of protection they used, and whether that protection actually kept their eyes safe. The study involved 214 workers, all men, with an average age of about 27 years. Most had been working for less than five years, and nearly all had finished high school.

The findings revealed a striking contradiction. Almost every worker knew exactly what could hurt their eyes. The welders could name the dangers of flying metal chips, blinding light, and chemical fumes, while the woodworkers identified dust and impact as their primary threats. Nearly everyone agreed that these injuries were preventable. Yet, despite this high level of awareness, the actual use of proper safety gear was surprisingly low. Only about half of all the workers reported wearing any kind of protective eyewear while they worked. Among those who did wear something, very few were using the standard equipment recommended for their specific job. For instance, many welders were wearing regular sunglasses, believing they offered enough protection against flying sparks, even though sunglasses lack the side shields and impact resistance needed for industrial work. Only a tiny fraction of the welders, roughly one in ten, wore their safety gear consistently throughout the entire workday.

When the researchers asked why the workers did not wear their gear more often, the answers were less about fear and more about habit and comfort. The most common reason given was simply forgetting or a belief that the task at hand was too quick or too small to be dangerous. Others cited discomfort, noting that the glasses made their vision foggy or felt too tight. The consequences of this behavior were clear in the workers' own histories. A vast majority of the men, nearly 87 percent, had already suffered an eye injury while on the job. In almost all of those cases, they were not wearing any protective eyewear at the moment the accident happened. The data showed a direct link between consistent protection and safety: workers who always wore their gear were far less likely to be injured than those who did not.

The study also highlighted that formal training made a significant difference. Workers who had received official safety training were much more likely to wear the correct equipment and to use it properly. Similarly, the type of work mattered; welders were more likely to wear some form of protection than woodworkers, though even among the welders, the use of the correct, standard gear remained low. The researchers concluded that simply telling workers about the dangers is not enough. While the men in Jimma clearly understood the risks, they needed better supervision, more comfortable equipment, and stricter enforcement of safety rules to turn that knowledge into consistent action. Without these changes, the cycle of awareness without protection will likely continue, leaving these workers vulnerable to injuries that could have been easily avoided.