Are your employees fitting their earplugs correctly?
How do you know?
Slater Safety can tell you.
As it’s National Tinnitus Awareness week, 7 – 13th February, it seems more important than ever to talk about how potential exposure to noise especially in the workplace can have serious consequences to your health.
Tinnitus is the term for the sensation of hearing sounds (in the absence of any external sounds) such as ringing, whooshing, humming or buzzing in the ear and can either be continuous or come and go, which only the sufferer can hear.
About 30% of people will experience tinnitus at some point in their lives, but approximately 13% (over 1 in 8) live with it persistently. It has been reported in all age groups although is more common in people who have hearing loss or other ear problems.
Tinnitus can affect people in different ways; many find they are able to continue with their normal day-today activities but some report it to severely affect them.
We don’t know the exact answer to what causes tinnitus as it’s not a disease or an illness. However, prolonged exposure to loud noise, or even an isolated blast can cause tinnitus. Occupations including factory and construction workers, pilots, dentists, bar staff and motorcycle couriers) where sound levels regularly exceed 80 – 85 dB) are at greater risk.
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, aims to ensure that workers are protected from excessive noise, so that their hearing is not affected, causing loss of hearing or tinnitus.
Employers need to be aware of and monitor the exposure of noise, and if the noise level reaches 80 dB, training and information must be provided to the workers. At 85 dB, staff must wear hearing protection with hearing protection zones installed.
The exposure limit value of 87 dB should not be exceeded and efforts must be made to reduce noise below this level.
In a survey conducted by RNID (formerly Action on Hearing Loss), 42% of tinnitus suffers have said the condition has an adverse effect on their work and can have the following impact on their jobs:
- Poor concentration due to lack of sleep
- Difficulty hearing meaning following meetings is often exhausting and stressful
- Straining to hear on the phone can lead to misunderstandings
- Exclusion from social conversations is isolating.
Employers have a duty of care to protect staff from loud or prolonged noise in the workplace and the tips below can help protect your employees:
- Read the Health and Safety Executive’s noise advice for employers
- Assess and identify measures to eliminate or reduce risks from noise exposure to protect the hearing of your employees
- Provide protection from excessive noise levels, such as ear plugs or ear defenders
- Consider the sound levels of power tools and machinery when buying new equipment
- Book a workplace assessment for employees with tinnitus to identify equipment, support and reasonable adjustments that can help them work more easily
- Make employees aware that sound therapy products are available that offer tinnitus relief and reduce the stress that can make tinnitus worse.
One way to ensure your employee’s earing protection is adequate for their needs is to undertake VeriPRO Earplug Plug Testing. This gets an accurate, real-world picture and informs whether they’re receiving optimal protection, whether they need additional training on how to fit their earplugs, or if they need a different product altogether. Outputting in a user-friendly format to find out the Personal Attenuation Rating (PAR) of the employee’s earplug protection, the VeriPRO is top of the range in terms of software.
Simply put the VeriPRO:
- Measures real-world attenuation by using unmodified earplugs
- Simple software installation and hardware set-up
- Fast, accurate, easy-to-understand results displayed within minutes
- Captures and stores historical information on employee PAR
- Fulfills regulatory requirements to “ensure proper initial fitting” of hearing protectors
- Works with any earplug
Let us help you prevent Tinnitus and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss amongst your workforce. Slater Safety has products and services that can help.
Drop us a line to find out how to protect your employees' ears and book in VeriPRO testing... sales@slatersafety.co.uk | 01772691000