Shared on behalf of Peter Myllymaa – EVP Corporate Services & Operations

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The health and safety of all staff, professional staff, patients and the community is our utmost priority. With COVID-19 positive cases increasing in the community and in our Hospital and based on recently updated Ministry of Health guidelines, ALL workers, which includes all staff, professional staff, volunteers, learners and contractors, will now be required to wear eye protection while in any Hospital location – per the memo of December 15, 2021.

This measure enhances your safety and protects the specialized acute care services we provide to those in need. The aim is to minimize staff loss and illness through inadvertent exposures to COVID-19 in the workplace. As prevalence in the community grows, the risk of this increases, therefore the need to mitigate in the Hospital work environment. The Ministry guidelines indicate that contact with a positive COVID-19 person is considered high risk if eye protection was not worn. Visitors and patients are also encouraged to wear their own eye protection at this time.

Currently, workers are required to wear Eye Protection when directly providing patient care within clinical settings. This change requires ALL workers to wear eye protection immediately upon entry until exit and at all times when not in a private office or space or eating in an approved break area at all TBRHSC sites (including 980, 984, 1040 Oliver Rd and Munro St).

The following applies to ALL workers: 

Selection and Use:

• Hospital provided safety glasses and face shields will be available for use in all areas, with an additional eye shield product being made available to non-clinical areas
• For other types of eye protection that are available from Stores, ordering will be limited to departments who currently use and require the product for the nature of their work – as most products continue to be on allocation from suppliers
• If you prefer to purchase your own eye protection, review with your Manager and if approved, ensure to follow the recommended guidelines provided by OHS:
  • Eye protection must be CSA-approved (Z94.3-15) or meets ANSI Z87.1 level D3
  • Eye protection should have a clear lens.
  • Eye protection should be tightly fitted so that gaps between the edges of the device and the face are kept to a minimum.
  • The frame should be as close to the face as possible and adequately supported by the bridge of the nose.
  • Users should be able to see in all directions without any major obstructions in their field of view.
• For all areas, similar to the process for procedure masks, you will don clean eye protection or clean/disinfect personally owned eye protection prior to leaving work – once you return to work for your next shift, you will use a new eye protection. For personally owned eye protection, clean/disinfect prior to starting your shift and at the end of shift.
• NB: should the nature of your work require a higher level of eye protection; you should complete a Risk Assessment and select eye protection appropriate for the task.

Cleaning, Disinfecting & Reprocessing:

• Disinfect eye protection immediately when you have exited the room of a patient on additional precautions.
• Safety glasses will be collected and reprocessed in MDRD; place in the collection bins, as provided, after use.
• Face shields are disposable and should be placed in the garbage after use
• Eye shields have visors that are disposable, and headband that can be reprocessed; discard the clear visor portion in the garbage after use and deposit the headband in the collection bin.
• For self-purchased eye protection, you will be required to disinfect your eyewear. independently as needed including but not limited to, immediately when exiting the room of a patient on additional precautions, at the beginning and end of the day and during the course of use as appropriate.
• If Hospital provided eye protection become dirty or soiled, you are encouraged to replace and not self-clean.
• Please note that protective eye protection may contain BPA; therefore, the product should not be placed in your mouth or ingested (i.e. Prop 65 warning due to the Bisphenol-A (BpA) content).

Ordering, Distribution and Collection:

• The delivery of Hospital provided eye protection will follow current processes for procedure mask delivery and distribution.
• Any clinical departments that currently order masks will need to order safety glasses (item #003210) or face shields (item #000829).
• Any non-clinical departments that currently order masks will need to order eye protection as well, with the preferred selection being eye shields (item #000828 for visor; #000827 for headband); NB: this product is being recommended based on risk-level and MDRD’s capacity to reprocess eyewear to meet all of our Hospital and SJCG needs.
• Any areas that are currently centrally stocked with masks will have a central stock of eye protection as well; no ordering is required.
• For areas that do not have dedicated department pick-up, dirty safety glasses and eye shields (headbands only) are to be placed in centralized bins for collection.  If they are heavily soiled, they should be pre-rinsed. 
• The centralized collection bins are located as following:
• Switchboard Hallway (1^st floor near room 1006)
• Physiotherapy Reception Desk (1^st floor room 1411)
• Cancer Centre Administration Suite (2^nd floor room 2170)
• Patient Billing Office (2^nd floor)
• 3^rd Floor Administration Suite/President’s Office (3^rd floor outside of room 3043 Executive Boardroom)
• NB: offsite locations will also have delivery and drop-off locations confirmed and communicated by Stores

Instructions on how to select appropriate eye wear and care for your eye protection is available on the iNtranet.

Please contact your Manager with any questions or concerns.