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10 Tips for Improving your Prescription Safety Eyewear Programme

Thousands of accidents affecting the eyes occur in UK workplaces every year and approximately 10-20% can result in partial or full blindness. 90% of eye injuries could be prevented by wearing protective spectacles. Not only does safety eyewear protect people from injury, but it also helps businesses avoid losing millions of pounds in terms of compensation claims, lost work days and lost productivity.

This National Eye Health Week runs from 20th-25th September 2022. In anticipation, we are examining here the most common challenges in an important area of workplace safety - your Prescription Safety Eyewear Programme.

A simple and straightforward programme leads to wearer adoption and engagement. If your programme causes headaches with paper-based forms, complicated eVouchers that are an administrative nightmare, or payment in advance, here are 10 ways you could simplify it quickly and cost-effectively.

1. Customise your programme to meet exposures and hazards

The right partner will review your environment and offer specialist advice on lens tints, materials, and constructions. As a result, you can be confident your eyewear is appropriate for the risks your workers are exposed to.

2. Ensure regular eye tests

Your program should ensure that your workers have regular eye tests and get the prescription they need. If you use an online system to administer your eyewear programme, automated reminders can be triggered when the next eye test is due for every employee. We recommend automatic reminders are sent 19 months after an eye test to ensure people have an up-to-date prescription.

3.  Build relationships with local opticians

A good programme will enable you to work with your local community so employees can visit their preferred local opticians. You don’t have to limit your programme to larger national organisations.

4. Offer a wide Range of frames

Choice of frames is important. Your workers are more likely to wear something that they feel looks good on them. Give them greater choice with a programme that offers an extensive range of frames. Make sure to include a range of options for both men and women.

5. Get guarantees on eyewear lifetime

Your safety eyewear programme should be able to offer you a 2 year guarantee on glasses – equivalent to the ‘life’ of your workers’ eye test.

6. Make it easy to order prescription eyewear

Check your communications to make sure people understand how to get their glasses. Your process should include a fast turnaround of no more than 3-5 days from the initial eye test to booking their glasses fitting appointment. Make things quick and simple.

7. Go paperless - go online

Support paperless initiatives wherever possible. They are not just eco-friendly - they are also more efficient to administer, saving you time and effort.

8.  Simplify pricing and direct billing

Develop a programme that has an easy pricing structure, corporate price reductions and no upfront payment requirements. Insist on direct billing to avoid the admin hassle and additional expense of credit cards. Ensure you are only paying for the safety glasses you actually buy every month, a common challenge caused by some eVoucher schemes that require payment in advance.

9. Take advantage of online reporting

Online reporting can help you administer your programme more efficiently. Using an online system makes is easy to see order history, track order status and stores submissions. Reporting also makes sure you only pay for the safety glasses you actually buy.  

10. Integrate your programme into e-procurement platforms

If you don’t already use an e-procurement platform, at some stage you might. Be prepared for this with a programme that can integrate with your e-procurement platform, offering multiple user access.

Are you looking for a provider who understands all the hazards and requirements of your business and knows exactly how to make the process easy? Speak to the experts at Anchor Safety - we can help.