Groups Work To Protect Eyes Of Florida Citrus Workers

By Farah Dosani -

Citrus season is in full swing in Florida. And as fruit workers spend their days picking the oranges and grapefruit that make it into people’s morning glasses of juice, many of these workers suffer from serious eye injuries caused by dust and residue or more seriously, by branches striking workers’ faces.

The eye is one of the body’s most sensitive sensory organs, and injuries to it can cause inflammation, retinal detachment, bleeding, infections and even blindness.

Protection of the eye is crucial to overall safety, which is why projects have sprouted up in Florida to work with fruit farm owners in educating their staff on eye protection.

Physician Assistant students pass out protective eyewear to citrus workers in Immokalee. (Farah Dosani / HealthyState.org)

Tomas ordaz Matias, 21, has been picking fruit in the U.S. as a guest worker for two seasons. Just weeks after arriving from Mexico this year, he scratched his eye on the job.

“I was picking in a really bad grove, and there was a lot of debris in the tree. Some of the debris got into my eye and I scratched it. I didn’t feel anything in the beginning, but at the end of the day I had a bad injury,” says Matias.

Matias couldn’t work the day after he got hurt. Once he was back in the field, the injury slowed him down, picking about four boxes fewer than his normal 13. He gets paid $8.10 per box. Matias didn’t report it to the company because he didn’t want to lose anymore days or pay.

Dr. Barrett Ginsberg is an ophthalmologist in the agricultural town of Immokalee. He says Matias was lucky. The injury could have been much worse.

“Any time you’re constantly moving your head in and out of trees, close to branches, using tools and cutting things – you have chronic exposure to eye injury both minor and major,” says Ginsberg.

He says citrus season brings a surge of workers to his office.

Farmworkers are more likely to experience an eye injury at work than any other industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 1,700 to 3,000 eye injuries per year – evidence as to why education on eye health and safety is critical in Florida.

The Partnership for Citrus Workers Health, spearheaded by the University of South Florida and the Farmworker Association of Florida, addresses health and safety issues in fruit groves in Collier County. Meanwhile, the Sweet Shades project, run by Nova Southeastern University Physician Assistant students, donates eyewear and safety information to citrus farms in southwestern Florida.

“It’s enough of a problem. Even one injury is one too many,” says Judy Sanchez, spokesperson for Southern Gardens Citrus in Clewiston.

The company grows and harvests more than 3.5 million boxes of oranges each year. Although treating eye injuries is not expensive, Sanchez says it can affect business.

“If you had a large enough number of incidents, you would be spending large periods of time without a certain number of workers,” she says.

Each year, these injuries cost the agricultural industry and workers about $300 million in medical expenses and lost time. According to a report from the Department of Labor, about 90% of eye injuries can be prevented by using protective eyewear.

And ophthalmologist Dr. Ginsberg says although the risk of eye injuries may be an inherent part of the job, “I think with more and more preventative measures and protective eyewear, this can be greatly reduced in the future.”

That’s as long as they actually use the eyewear.

“Workers, they don’t use glasses,” said Antonio Tovar, a coordinator with the Partnership for Citrus Workers Health.

“The main issue is that the glasses fog. They fall. Because they are paid by the amount of oranges they pick, they don’t want to waste time,” said Tovar.

So the Partnership took those concerns and determined the pair of glasses most suitable for working in the groves. They also trained some workers to be ‘health promoters’ who teach coworkers the importance of eye safety and perform eyewashes if someone gets injured in the grove.

Recently, Tomas ordaz Matias got his protective eyewear and eyewash from the Partnership.

“I wear glasses now,” he said. “It slows you down. It’s still hard for me to get used to, but sometimes you have to wear them.”

Since Southern Gardens Citrus adopted the program in 2007, they’ve had no ‘lost-time’ injuries due to eye accidents, according to Sanchez.

This reporter can be reached at fdosani@wgcu.org.