Introduction

1. In alignment with international best practices, the use of eye protection is required for all personnel working in or visiting NUS research or teaching laboratories and workshops where hazardous materials and/or activities are present. Hazardous materials/activities refer to activities involving biological hazards, chemical hazards (gases, liquids and dusts etc.) and physical hazards (e.g. projectiles, high power lasers, thermal hazards).

2. Eye protection is required by default even if there is no obvious eye splash/exposure risk arising from the activity as hazards to the eye may also be present in the surrounding areas.

3. This mandatory eye protection policy for research laboratories was communicated to all Deans/Directors and has been effective since 3rd August 2015. From 1st Jan 2017, this current eye protection policy for research laboratories has been extended to teaching laboratories and workshops.

Process to determine type of eye protection

The Academic Supervisor or Principal Investigator shall assess the risk of injuries to the eye and determine the type of eye protection required using the criteria mentioned below. The type of eye protection would be based on the hazard review of the work being performed.

Summary of eye and face protection requirements:

Exemption from the use of eye protection

4. There may be certain situations or work activities where the use of eye protection is not reasonably practicable. For such situations, the Principal Investigator or Academic Supervisor shall submit an exemption request to the Head of Department or Director of Research Centre/Institute for endorsement.

5. An exemption request is not required to be submitted when the eye protection is removed briefly when it impedes the activity in question, for example removal of eye protection when viewing the eye piece of the microscope and where it would be worn before and after microscope use.

6. The guiding principles for the approval of eye protection exemption are:

   1. Eye protection shall be worn all the time, except where its use would impede the activity in question and;
   2. There must not be other hazardous activities in the vicinity of the area where eye protection exemption is requested.

7. Once the request is endorsed, OSHE will evaluate these requests and recommend to the NUS Eye Protection Evaluation Committee for final approval. The committee is made up of members from the Institutional Laboratory Safety Committee (ILSC) and Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). Head of Department/Director and PI will be notified of the request outcome and the exemption approval shall be filed in the laboratory safety and health management system dossier.
8. To streamline the process of eye protection exemption applications, PI or academic supervisors seeking exemption for activities that had been previously approved by the evaluation committee (mentioned in point 7), will only need to submit a declaration in EHS360 ‘Service Request’ module. OSHE may conduct a verification check on behalf of the committee. The exemption will be void if the guiding principles for the approval of eye protection exemption is not fulfilled.

Where eye protection exemption is requested:

For more clarifications, you may refer to the Frequent Asked Questions on Eye and Face Protection Requirements in Research Laboratories and Workshops.

Please contact the following personnel pertaining to the requirements for eye and face protection:

For more information on Eye and Face Protection Requirements, please refer to the following: