Is Your Workplace Hearing Protection Plan Working?

Have you updated your Workplace Hearing Protection Plan lately? Have you assessed it to see if your workers / employees are being positively impacted from it? Maybe it is time to ask “Is your workplace Hearing Protection Plan working”?

Let’s look at an outline for assessing your plan, after all if your plan is not having the intended protection for your workers everyone loses!

• Assessing your company’s needs

  1. What physical areas have high noise levels?
     1. Have those areas been assessed for equipment, machinery and other n
        oise factors?
     2. How frequently are these areas being reassessed?

• Have any recommended implementations to improve or put controls into place been realized? If not yet, then what time frame and plans have been put into place?

1. How many of your workers or employees could be affected in these areas?
   1. Do you have a log on worker’s or employee’s times they are in these high noise level areas within a 24hour period? (Noise exposure ratings are based on 24 hour periods so if a worker has 2 shifts within a 24hour period both times would need to be counted)
   2. Do you have a protection plan in place for visitors that could be entering these areas? Do you ensure that any visitors or Company Management is also supplied with proper protection?

• Assessing your workers or employees for their individual hearing assessment

  1. Do you have an ongoing program in place that will:
     1. Initially establish a baseline assessment of your workers or employees level of hearing pre-employment?
     2. Track on a consistent basis (minimum annually) your workers or employees hearing levels to see if any deterioration in hearing has occurred? Learn More 

• Providing your workers and/or employees with properly fitted hearing protection devices

  1. Do you have a program in place that provides your worker and/or employees with personally fitted hearing protection devices suitable for their workplace environment?
     1. Does that program include training and awareness for proper use and the reasons why hearing protection devices are vitally important to their hearing health?
     2. Is the training program presented in a manner that all workers can understand? For example, is the trainingconducted in the language that each worker will fully understand and through multiple styles of teaching media? Learn More about custom fitting.

• Does the program have safety checks implemented to ensure workers are being compliant and properly using their HPD’s? FitCheck Program? 

1. Does the program align with your regular individual hearing assessments so that any deterioration noted during annual assessments will result in changes to that individuals personal hearing protection device along with proper training in the use of any new HPD’s?
2. Does your program include investigating the various options available in HPD’s and regularly investigate any new improvements or products available on the market that would provide the best protection for your workers?

• Do you regularly track and comply with your regulatory body or WCB policies?

How do you line up? Does your current Workplace Hearing Protection Plan work?

If not maybe some of these suggestions will propel your company forward to ensure your workers and employees are well protected. Your workers and employees will appreciate the efforts your company has taken and continues to take in order to protect such a valuable asset – their hearing!