Wear safety goggles when doing DIY

If you are a DIY enthusiast who likes nothing more than spending a weekend renovating your home then be careful because new research has highlighted how DIY can sometimes be bad for your health.

Seamus O''Reilly, a consultant at Craigavon Area Hospital in Ulster, says that 20,000 serious eye injuries are caused every year due to DIY mishaps and that safety goggles should be an important part of your toolbox.

Chips of wood, concrete and other debris often fly up and injure the eye while you are undertaking tasks such as drilling, hammering or sawing.

Mr O''Reilly told the Belfast Telegraph: "The number of eye injuries caused by DIY tasks has significantly increased over the past few years.

"We are seeing a wide range of eye injuries from simple abrasions to the cornea to very serious injuries that have left people with permanently damaged sight."

He explained that 65 per cent of the injured people are male and all were not wearing safety protection for their eyes when it happened.

Optometrists can advise you as to what goggles to buy if you wear glasses or contact lenses and it is very important that if you do receive an eye injury, you do not rub your eye or attempt to remove the detritus yourself.


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