Hearing Loss Prevention in the Food Industry

August 22, 2017

Hearing Loss Prevention in the Food Industry

dB Blocker for Food IndustryBehind that yummy assortment of bakery delights or that wonderfully prepared to go straight to the oven, frozen Chicken Cordon Bleu is an entire assembly of creative chefs and production staff who prepared it for you; production workers who are also exposed to workplace hazards every day. One specifically is industrial hearing loss.

The issue of hearing protection in the food processing industry — and in process industries in general — is somewhat more complex than it is in other industries in that employers must protect workers’ hearing as well as protect the purity of the product.

When it comes to food processing, the highest quality and hygiene standards must be maintained. With people’s lives and the earth’s future at stake, every step must be taken to ensure the welfare of the public and the environment. This puts a lot of pressure on employees to perform at their best, which is why many of your competitors are investing in their worker’s best interests.

Detectable Hearing Protectors

If you are the safety officer at a food processing company, the issue of providing hearing protection that is safe for people and process are not one to be taken lightly. There are two basic approaches to protect food products from stray hearing protectors: the first is to keep the hearing protector from falling into the product in the first place, and the second is to make it easily detectable if it does. Custom Protect Ear, manufacturers of dB Blockers™, has created three options of Metal Detectable dB Blockers that help with both approaches. (dB Blocker™ Metal Detectable (MD) Vented; dB Blocker™ Metal Detectable (MD) Non-Vented; dB Blocker™ Metal Detectable (MD) Communication Ear Piece)

Promoting Quality and Hygiene in the Food Processing Industry

To help your workers adhere to stringent quality and hygiene standards, dB Blockers™ are made of SkinSoft™ medical grade silicone, are hypoallergenic, washable, and nonporous so they don’t breed contaminants. As per food industry standards, the dB Blocker™ MD ear pieces are manufactured to provide for fast detectability in production line screening processes.

Should the ear pieces get misplaced or go missing, they can be easily replaced as the custom ear mold that is taken during the fitting process, is retained on file for five years. dB Blockers™ are custom fit, reusable hearing protection. They are not disposable; making them more cost effective to use than disposables.
With your workers’ hearing properly protected by dB Blockers™, you can rise above these challenges, enabling your workers to perform even more effectively.

“Over the years, CPE has anticipated our needs and far exceeded our expectations. They’re even working on advances to our protectors. They really take the time to understand the challenges we face in our daily operations.” ~ Maidstone Bakeries

dB BLOCKER™ METAL DETECTABLE Vented

 

Metal Detectable

Noise Induced Hearing Loss is a Growing Problem

The bottom line in all this, however, underscores the employers’ need to protect workers’ hearing. Despite the growing awareness of hearing loss and increased efforts to combat it, the incidence of noise induced hearing loss among industrial workers — food processing and otherwise — continues to rise. A recent National Health Interview Survey showed that hearing problems among individuals aged 45-64 years have risen 26% over the past 30 years. This means safety professionals need to not only take into account traditional Noise Reduction Ratings (NRR) in providing protective hearing protection but to also consider the human factor which undermines hearing conservation efforts.

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