Safety can be a sensory phenomenon just as much as a physical or mental one.
Take a couple of the most-used senses on a worksite – sight and hearing. As safety professionals, we are always on the lookout for ways to protect workers’ eyesight. But as noise seems to be everywhere (except in a church or library after it’s closed), there sometimes is not enough being done to protect workers’ hearing.
[Image courtesy of Flickr user darkbuffet via a Creative Commons license] Hearing protection devices, or HPDs, such as these are valuable in many worksite environments. But oddly, it seems that the construction industry, which has its share of loud noises virtually every day at an active site, has seemed to be less willing to use HPDs among workers – even as seven in 100 workers have daily exposed to noise levels above that of NIOSH-recommended guidelines for safety.
In defense of construction, however, there is this – most construction work is done in the open air, and everyone knows that noise dissipates in the air and is not as loud, in theory, as the noise that reverberates off walls and ceilings in an enclosed space.
However, that doesn’t mean the noise levels on construction sites are entirely safe. Donald Garvey wrote an article about “Hearing Conservation” that appeared in the September 2015 issue of Professional Safety magazine, discussing the impact of noise on construction sites and what has been done or not done to mitigate the issue.
Garvey begins his article by highlighting some research conducted regarding noise levels and exposure by construction laborers on worksites. He reported that one study conducted about 1,300 measurements of noise levels, and the research found that seven in 10 construction workers – seven in 10! – were exposed to noise levels of 85 decibels or more for a full shift, which was consistently above the recommended exposure level by NIOSH.
That seems hard to imagine when you consider that many of the loud noises at a worksite are only for a few seconds (like saws, concrete trucks or jackhammers) at a time, while others are short bursts of noise (hammers). But taken in aggregate and weighed over a full day shift, the decibel levels that the ears are forced to endure each day is remarkable – and dangerous. But that’s not all – a full 10 percent of those workers had a full-day exposure of greater than 90 decibels, which is higher than the current OSHA recommendation.
Noise on construction sites has always been a problem and concern, and while there are ways to mitigate the noise on ears, hearing loss is still a major problem. Garvey recognizes through various studies that there are reasons given for hearing protection not being used, must less used safely, and that some education is needed to reinforce the importance of hearing protection to overcome many of these excuses.
Garvey wrote the article to focus on two main points, which we will cover in future posts: One is the use of what are called HPDs, or hearing protection devices, on the worksite; and two, training the proper and effective use of HPDs.
The next post will go into greater detail about HPDs, why they are not being used on the worksite, why they should and how important HPDs can be in terms of keeping workers’ hearing safe in the long run, even if the workers themselves won’t be working with you very long.