Mark’s vision

By Lia Bichel
WHEN Mark Boyes lost his eye in a freak workplace accident, he vowed not to let his injury hold him back from a promising career and life with his family.
Last year, at the age of 34, Mr Boyes was doing a routine job in the JDN Monocrane factory in Dandenong when tragedy struck.
He was operating a machine to make brackets for electrical covers, but when the tool misaligned, a piece of metal shot into his right eye.
Because it wasn’t mandatory at the time, he was not wearing safety goggles.
“I didn’t feel any pain. My eye just went numb,” he said.
“There was blood from a laceration to my eyelid, but I thought I could just clean it up at the first-aid section and things would be fine.”
Mr Boyes had no idea of the extent of damage caused by the metal until that evening, when an eye specialist in Melbourne told him he would try to save his eye.
But the next day, when Mr Boyes could barely see, he was given a choice to either keep the eye with the possibility of losing his vision in both eyes, or have an operation to remove it.
“I thought about my wife and my two children (aged eight and 15),” Mr Boyes said.
“It wasn’t a choice for me. I thought we could take it out and I can get on with life.”
Mr Boyes met with the surgeon and was surprised to find he performed an average of eight operations a week to remove eyes damaged in freak accidents, whether at home or in the workplace.
After the operation, Mr Boyes had to wear a patch for six weeks until he could be fitted with a glass eye.
Eight weeks after the accident, he returned to work.
“I never sat and reflected or felt sorry for myself. I know it was a freak accident. I worked with the machines all the time. I even moved from England to Australia five years ago on a work skills visa because of my experience and qualifications,” he said.
“If I would have sat around and moped it would have affected my family. I wanted to get back to work.”
Mr Boyes has since distanced himself from working in an engineering role in the factory, and has instead implemented many safety changes as his role as a procurement officer, and has enrolled in courses to further his safety knowledge and hopes to one day become a work place inspector.
His determination has inspired many of his fellow colleagues.
“I am full of admiration, the way he has toughed it out mentally and physically is sensational,” financial controller Dean Carroll said.
In the past five financial years, more than 8600 workers compensation claims have been made in the City of Greater Dandenong, with the cost of treatment and rehabilitation amounting to more than $165 million.
Like Mr Boyes, about 80 per cent of injured workers return to work within six months.
WorkSafe’s WISE program helps match injured workers who cannot return to their old workplace with a new employer.
Director of WorkSafe’s Return to Work Division Dorothy Frost said it was important for people’s psychological state to return to work after the recovery process.
“Obviously when you are injured at work you need time to recover,” she said.
“But what we find is if we can get someone back to work which is suitable for them, it actually helps their injuries improve. Being back with friends and having something to do is beneficial psychologically, socially and financially.”