Higher illumination standards advocated as aid to defective vision

The report of the Committee on Elimination of Waste in Industry of the American Engineering Council on “Accidents Due to Eye Defects” contains some very interesting observations regarding the prevalence of defective vision as found in the industries today. It stresses the importance of correcting subnormal vision among employees, insisting that excess eye fatigue results in conditions which must produce loss, due to lowering the quantity and quality of whatever is produced. Subnormal vision was found to be of great frequency. One investigation showed that out of 2,906 garment workers only 743 or a little over 25 per cent had normal vision in both eyes, 17 per cent having normal vision in one eye with the other eye defective. The highest percentage of defective vision was in the class of workers who made the greatest use of their eyes.