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Click here to download a PDF of Industrial Strength Eyewear: A Safe Bet for ECPs

To flip an old adage, there are numbers in safety—Rx safety eyewear that is. The numbers represent the incremental customers and revenue that prescription safety eyewear (SRx) generates for savvy optical industry players who are capitalizing on this niche opportunity.

Approximately two-thirds of independent eyecare practices offer ANSI-rated Z87 safety eyewear, according to the 2014 Vision Council ECP Report. This figure includes safety eyewear for both home and industrial use. Although it’s hard to gauge the size of only the industrial SRx market—which is the focus of this article—safety eyewear for the workplace is an important product category, with millions of pairs sold each year by ECPs, prescription labs and manufacturers.

The need for safety eyewear is clearly reflected in the statistics on worker eye injuries. According to the Centers for Disease Control, some 2,000 workers have job-related eye injuries requiring medical care every day, and one-third are serious enough to be treated in hospital emergency rooms. More than 100 of these injuries result in one or more lost workdays. Injuries are caused by many different environmental hazards such as airborne particulates, chemical spills and flying objects like nails, staples or slivers of wood.

How is the optical industry responding to the need for industrial safety eyewear? This article presents a survey of product trends and the optical programs that are delivering safety eyeglasses to companies and their employees.

Today’s SRx eyewear has advanced light years beyond the stereotypical wide rimmed, clunky lab spectacles of yesteryear, taking on a fashion-oriented look while still meeting safety needs. New technologies in materials and lenses have enhanced the appearance and comfort of SRx products along with the protection provided, making compliance an easier sell.

As for delivery systems, the picture of the marketplace breaks down into a number of different marketing scenarios. Safety eyewear is required by federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) regulations for employees in a broad spectrum of industries, from construction to pharmaceutical to law enforcement. Managers at these companies are looking to the optical industry for solutions to meet these mandates.

However, in addition to dispensing eyewear that meets safety standards, many employers now want their optical partners to bundle administrative support services like billing and record keeping into a total support package. Automated systems to handle the paper stream electronically have become an important part of these programs, along with online portals for tracking benefits and websites for virtual frame selection. The latest trend is the use of on-site kiosks that enable employees to order safety eyewear at work with minimal downtime.

The complexity of the marketplace has produced marketing strategies based on the size and location of the industries served. Servicing the needs of large companies with 5,000+ employees and multiple facilities nationwide requires a different level of support than small and mid-sized organizations with a few locations. In response, optical industry players have differentiated themselves by targeting the market segments they can best serve and developing SRx programs customized to meet those customers’ needs.

Among the industry players who have been successful in exploiting the SRx opportunities are independent wholesale labs and their ECP partners, national retail chains, and a few direct-to-industry distributors. There is no one-size-fits-all marketing plan. Each player has developed an approach to the SRx marketplace that utilizes both their unique resources and their distribution strengths.