This Tradies Health Awareness Month (August), seasoned tradespeople in Lilydale are warning their younger generation to better protect their eyes and ears from injury on the jobsite.
This comes after research from Specsavers shows that 89 per cent of tradies aged 40 and over would tell their younger selves to be more careful with their hearing and eye protection.
Optometrists and Audiology Professionals in Lilydale are echoing this warning. They are calling out to labourers and tradespeople in the local area to be vigilant in looking after their eyes and ears on the job to avoid long term, often preventable, and in some cases irreversible, damage to their eyesight and hearing.
Currently, there are 2,850 in the Lilydale area that could be susceptible to this damage.
Lilydale Specsavers Audiology Professional Meena Venkat said it’s the age bracket of 18 to 34 year olds who really need to understand the importance of preventative measures.
“Once you lose it, there is no getting it back. We often see older tradies come in citing their workplaces as the reason for their hearing being worse than it used to be or attributing work-related sun damage to their eyes,” she said.
“These younger tradies could learn from their older colleagues and start to get serious about ear and eye protection on the job site.”
The research found that younger tradies (18-34 yo) are already reporting concerns of worksite damage, with:
• 75 per cent of those who work outside are concerned that they could have sun damage to their eyes
• 37 per cent already incurring a workplace eye injury that required medical attention
• 53 per cent saying their hearing has worsened over time, with 76 per cent of those affected citing their work environment as a contributor to their hearing loss
Yet, many younger tradies are still taking a ‘she’ll be right’ approach, with 26 per cent rarely or only occasionally wearing protective goggles or sunglasses onsite, and 70 per cent not always wearing hearing protection.
Ms Venkat said simple measures like wearing polarised sunglasses, safety glasses or earmuffs can make a huge difference.
“Health professionals want tradies to know that prevention is always better than cure, plus, getting regular eye and hearing health checks is important to retain quality of vision and hearing, both now and for years to come,” she said.
