TO WEAR OR NOT TO WEAR - CURRENT, CONTACT-LENS USE IN THE ROYAL-CANADIAN-MOUNTED-POLICE

Objective: The Canadian Ophthalmological Society was asked by the Roya l Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Human Rights Commiss ion to render an opinion on the acceptability of contact lenses as a r easonable accommodation to the uncorrected visual acuity standard. Des ign: Survey by mailed questionnaire. Setting: Canada. Subjects: All RC MP general duty constables with a visual acuity code of V3, V4, V5 or V6 (n = 348) and a random sample of approximately 25% of the constable s with an acuity code of V2 (n = 809), Of the 1040 questionnaires retu rned, 1037 were usable (final response rate 89.6%). Of the 1037 respon dents 316 were in the V3 to V6 group and 721 were in the V2 group. Out come measures: Reported frequency of problems with spectacles or conta ct lenses, weighted according to sampling fraction. Results: A total o f 934 respondents indicated that they used some form of visual acuity correction while on duty; of the 934, 360 reported that they wore cont act lenses at least some of the time. Approximately 75% of the spectac le wearers reported having to remove their spectacles because of foggi ng or rain. Although contact lens dislogement or fogging (21.2%) was l ess frequent than spectacle dislogement (59.2%), 35.4% of the contact lens wearers reported that they were unable to wear their lenses becau se of irritation on at least one occasion in the previous 2 years; the median length of time was 3.14 days, When the additional amount of ti me due to other causes is factored in, it is clear that contact lens u sers wear spectacles for substantial periods while on duty. Conclusion s: Not only are RCMP general duty constables who usually wear contact lenses likely to have to wear spectacles at some time, but it is also possible that they will have to remove their spectacles and function i n an uncorrected state in critical situations, Thus, altering the curr ent standard to allow the use of contact lenses as a reasonable accomm odation would not ensure effective and safe job performance.