A new campaign aimed at cutting the number of eye injuries in the construction industry was today launched by a leading charity for the blind.

Up to 350 accidents every year lead to construction workers suffering some form of major trauma to one or both eyes - many of which are preventable simply by following existing health and safety guidelines.

Now the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, with the support of Miller Construction and Sand Project Management, has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of the importance of wearing the appropriate eye protection while working on site.

"As a charity, we are obviously best known for helping people who are already blind or partially sighted,"said Steve Muxworthy of Guide Dogs for the Blind. "But we're also firm believers that prevention is better than cure.

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"Too many people suffer long-term, debilitating eye injuries caused by accidents on construction sites that if existing health and safety guidelines were adhered to, could have been prevented.

"The aim of this campaign is simply to remind all workers of the importance of taking simple precautions and wearing the appropriate level of eye protection while working on site."

The charity has been supported by Miller Construction and Sand Project Management, both of which have helped fund the campaign and urged their respective supply chains to display the new awareness poster.

Simon Butler, area director of Miller Construction, said: "When people regularly work in a dangerous working environment, like a construction site, it’s all too easy to become complacent about health and safety.

"However, a constant reminder on site from someone like Guide Dogs For The Blind, who regularly work with people blinded in industrial accidents, really hammers the message home. That's why we were only too pleased to support this initiative."

"We started by holding a presentation day for around 120 of our supply chain, during which we told them of the dangers to eye safety and urged everyone to follow basic procedures.

"This campaign is not about calling for new rules or regulations, or about making procedures stricter, it is just about ensuring everybody throughout the industry adheres, as we do among our own staff, to existing guidelines," he said.

(GK/JM)