Monthly Archives: May 2018

Hearing Loss Prevention: The Basics

May 29, 2018
Hearing Loss

Hearing is a critical sense.

We use our hearing to identify, recognize, and localize sound, for interpersonal communications, and as a primary safety mechanism. Manufacturing, construction, mining, transportation and industrial sites can expose employees to high levels of potentially hazardous noise. When noise exposure causes hearing loss and/or tinnitus, it can create long-term communication difficulties and impact quality of life, limit productivity and contribute to on-the-job injuries and mishaps.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), employers are required to provide a “continuing, effective hearing conservation program” for employees who are exposed to potentially hazardous noise. For some employers, the task of creating a comprehensive hearing conservation program (HCP) can be daunting.

  • What is an HCP?
  • How much noise is too much noise?
  • What do the regulations require?
  • Where do we begin?
  • Is all of this effort actually protecting people?

The Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC) and the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) have partnered to produce a training event which addresses these and many other questions relating to the delivering a comprehensive hearing loss prevention program.

Please join us for all seven parts of this unique training event to help you understand the importance of building an all-inclusive plan to protect your workers against the damaging effects of noise. hearing loss prevention

Continuing education units are available through AAA, ASHA and AAOHN.


To learn more about each of the training events, click on the titles below.

Training Events:

Hearing Conservation Overall

Hearing Conservation Regulations and Best Practices for Prevention

Noise Measurement

The Audiogram

Education & Training

Hearing Protection

Recordability Issues

REGISTER NOW 

Workers exposed to loud noise on the job are at increased risk for hypertension and high cholesterol – key risk factors for heart disease – according to a recent study from NIOSH

May 22, 2018

Cincinnati — Workers exposed to loud noise on the job are at increased risk for hypertension and high cholesterol – key risk factors for heart disease – according to a recent study from NIOSH.

worker-hivis-jackhammer

Using 2014 National Health Interview Survey data of nearly 23,000 workers, researchers estimated the prevalence of occupational noise exposure, hearing difficulty and heart conditions within U.S. industries and occupations. They also looked at the association between workplace noise exposure and heart disease.

The researchers found a link between a history of noise exposure at work and a significantly elevated risk of both high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. Other findings:

  • The industries with the highest prevalence of occupational noise exposure were mining (61 percent), construction (51 percent) and manufacturing (47 percent).
  • Occupations with the highest prevalence of occupational noise exposure were production (55 percent); construction and extraction (54 percent); and installation, maintenance and repair (54 percent).
  • Occupational noise exposure contributed to 58 percent of hearing difficulty cases, 14 percent of hypertension cases and 9 percent of elevated cholesterol cases.

“This study provides further evidence of an association of occupational noise exposure with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and the potential to prevent these conditions if noise is reduced,” Elizabeth Masterson, study lead author and NIOSH epidemiologist, said in a March 21 press release. “It is important that workers be screened regularly for these conditions in the workplace or through a health care provider so interventions can occur. As these conditions are more common among noise-exposed workers, they could especially benefit from these screenings.”

Safety

The study was published online March 14 in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

SOURCE:

U.S. Workers at High Risk of Hearing Loss

May 15, 2018

“Permanent hearing loss is irreversible. It’s personally and economically devastating. Fortunately, it’s usually preventable with proper hearing protection — hence our campaign slogan: ‘Listen Today to Hear Tomorrow.’” – ISEA President Charles D. Johnson

Each year, 22 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), making hearing loss the third most common chronic physical condition among adults. To stem the epidemic of workplace hearing loss, the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) is launching its “Listen Today to Hear Tomorrow” campaign today.

hearing at work

The campaign, timed to coincide with Better Hearing Month, offers links to noise-level apps, access to free earplugs, and educational information at HearingAtWork.org. NIOSH (part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) advises workers to wear hearing protection when they are exposed to noises louder than 85 decibels (dBA) — and permissible exposure time is cut in half for every 3 dB above 85 dBA.

Everyday noises, especially in the workplace, are more dangerous than people realize. For example, a 25-year-old carpenter who does not protect his hearing has 50-year-old ears, according to NIOSH. 

  • Carpenters daily noise exposure: 85-107 dBA
  • Farmers daily noise exposure: 85-90 dBA
  • Groundskeepers: 82-102 dBA
  • Music Teachers: 84-91 dBA
  • Other examples:
  •      A forklift in a warehouse is 96 dBA
  •      A jackhammer is 105 dBA
  •      A leaf blower is 90 dBA
  •      A belt sander is 93 dBA

Hearing loss is a gradual process. It begins in the high frequencies (bird songs) and spreads to frequencies important for speech understanding. A worker can have measurable occupational hearing loss, but not yet be deemed “hearing impaired” for regulatory purposes. In order to be recorded in OSHA’s statistics, a person’s hearing loss must be determined to be work-related and the hearing loss must be severe enough that the worker has become hearing impaired, NIOSH explains.

That means national stats likely under-report the extent of workplace hearing problems. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics says occupational hearing loss is the most commonly recorded occupational illness in manufacturing, for example, accounting for 1 in 9 recordable illnesses, those numbers don’t include the many other workers whose hearing loss has not yet reached its worst level.

“Employers and workers really need to take this seriously,” urged ISEA President Charles D. Johnson. “Permanent hearing loss is irreversible. It’s personally and economically devastating. Fortunately, it’s usually preventable with proper hearing protection — hence our campaign slogan: ‘Listen Today to Hear Tomorrow.’ Hearing is too important to take for granted.”

The impact of employee hearing loss on a business can be staggering.

  • Workplace noise not only leads to hearing loss (including tinnitus), but also creates stress, anxiety, chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems in workers.
  • Those effects hit the bottom line by sapping employee productivity, harming morale, and boosting healthcare costs.
  • Workers with noise-induced hearing loss may be at risk of accidental injury if specialized electronic hearing protection is not utilized.
hearing at work

The personal impacts on workers can be even more profound. Hearing loss can mean:

  • Inability to qualify for jobs that require good hearing.
  • Difficulty communicating on the job with co-workers.
  • Difficulty communicating with loved ones.
  • Home safety problems (e.g., inability to hear smoke or CO alarms and inability to hear a family member calling out for help).

“Workers can protect their hearing by advocating for quieter tools and processes, limiting the time they spend in noisy environments and wearing well-fit hearing protectors at home and at work,” says Deanna Meinke, Ph.D., CCC-A, at the University of Northern Colorado.


SOURCE

About ISEA
Headquartered in Arlington, VA, the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) is the trade association in the U.S. for personal protective equipment and technologies. Its member companies are world leaders in the design, manufacture, testing and distribution of protective clothing and equipment used in factories, construction sites, hospitals and clinics, farms, schools, laboratories, emergency response and in the home. Since 1933, ISEA has set the standard for the personal protective equipment industry, supporting member companies united in the goal of protecting the health and safety of people worldwide.

http://hearingatwork.org/