Evaluation of Eye Health Parameters of Construction Industry Workers in Terms of Turkish Occupational Safety Standards

Abstract

In the construction industry, which is one of the sectors where occupational accidents occur most frequently, the evaluation of workers' eye health parameters is critical for occupational safety. This study aims to analyze the central visual acuity, color blindness, and peripheral visual field performance of construction workers in line with international occupational safety standards OSHA and HSE criteria. Within the scope of the study, Auto-Refractometer Test, Snellen Visual Acuity Test, Ishihara Color Blindness Test, and peripheral vision tests with Dynamic Tangent Screen were applied to 51 construction workers. According to the results, all participants met the lower threshold of 3/60 for central vision, while 78.4% met the OSHA required level of 20/40. The results of the one-sample t-test and single proportion test revealed that the workers' central vision levels were statistically and significantly higher than the reference value of 0.5. In the color blindness assessment, only one participant was found to be color blind and the overall sample met OSHA/HSE standards. However, in the peripheral vision tests, ANOVA and Tukey HSD analyses for three different stimuli sizes (5 mm, 10 mm, 20 mm) showed that the peripheral vision scores measured under 5 mm stimuli were significantly lower than the others. One-sample t-tests revealed that no group's mean peripheral vision score exceeded the OSHA limit of 85 degrees. These findings suggest that peripheral awareness is particularly inadequate under narrow stimuli conditions posing potential safety risks in the construction industry. The findings of the study suggest that eye health parameters should be systematically assessed in recruitment processes and provide an important recommendation for the inclusion of peripheral vision testing in occupational health procedures.