Page 30 - Occupational Health & Safety, September 2019

HEARING PROTECTION
Listen Up—Kicking Workplace Noise Monitoring Up a Notch
BY JUSTIN STEWART According to OSHA, each year 22 million employees are exposed to hazardous nois- es at work, making hearing loss the most common work-related injury. It’s time to understand, and consider, the role technology can
play in workplace noise monitoring.
Setting Standards in Place
The goal of all employers should be for their employ- ees to leave work in the same condition as they be- gan—healthy and safe. When an organization displays its dedication to employee safety through responsible practices and initiatives, it results in increased pro- ductivity and employee morale, as well as decreased insurance costs.
In 2018, ISO 45001 was established as the new standard for occupational health and safety (OHS) to reduce the burden of regulation and prevent work- place injuries and fatalities, providing a framework to improve employee safety and create safer working conditions. It is an international standard that speci- fies requirements for an OHS management system, with guidance for its use and to enable an organiza- tion to proactively improve its OHS performance in preventing injury and ill health. ISO 45001 is intend- ed to be applicable to any organization regardless of its size, type, or nature, and all of its requirements are intended to be easily integrated into an organization’s own management processes.1
Hazards and risks in the workplace need to be identified and, more importantly, eliminated or re- duced to appropriate levels. ISO 45001 highlights both noise and dust exposure issues, as well as the value of workplace monitoring. Research shows that stronger occupational regulation of noise leads to safer sound levels, which results in safer employees.
Impacts of Occupational Hearing Loss
NIOSH recommends that workers are not exposed to noise at a level that amounts to more than 85 decibels (dBA) over eight continuous hours. An estimated 24 percent of hearing loss in the United States has been attributed to workplace exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common occupational illnesses, it is often ignored because there are no visible effects. It usu- ally develops over a long period of time and, except in very rare cases, there is no pain. What does occur is a progressive loss of communication, socialization, and responsiveness to the environment. In its early stages, it affects the ability to understand or differenti- ate speech. As it progresses to the lower frequencies,
it begins to affect the ability to hear sounds in general. The primary effects of workplace noise exposure include noise-induced temporary threshold shift, noise-induced permanent threshold shift, acoustic trauma, and tinnitus. A noise-induced temporary threshold shift is a short-term decrease in hearing sensitivity that returns to the pre-exposed level in a matter of hours or days, assuming there is not contin-
ued exposure to excessive noise.
If noise exposure continues, the shift can become
a noise-induced permanent threshold shift, which is a decrease in hearing sensitivity that is not expected to improve over time. If workers experience standard threshold shifts, employers are required to fit or refit the workers with hearing protectors, train them in the use of the hearing protectors, and require the workers to use them.
The effects of excessive noise exposure are made worse when workers have extended shifts (longer than eight hours). With extended shifts, the duration of the noise exposure is longer and the amount of time between shifts is shorter. This means that the ears have less time to recover between noisy shifts and damage can more quickly become permanent.
Tinnitus, or “ringing in the ears,” can occur after long-term exposure to high sound levels, or some- times from short-term exposure to very high sound levels. Regardless of the cause, this condition is a dis- turbance produced by the inner ear and interpreted by the brain as sound. Individuals with tinnitus de- scribe it as a hum, buzz, roar, ring, or whistle, which can be short term or permanent.2
Hazardous levels of noise exposure should be a priority for employers to monitor to avoid implica- tions for both themselves and their employees.
Measuring noise levels and noise exposure is the most important part of a workplace hearing conservation and noise control program.
Measuring noise levels and noise exposure is the most important part of a workplace hearing conserva- tion and noise control program. It helps identify loca- tions where there are noise problems, employees who may be affected, and where additional noise measure- ments need to be made.3
Changing the Workplace with Technology
To assess the risk of workplace noise, a variety of monitoring solutions may be installed and utilized. Noise dosimeters are ideal for personal exposure
26 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2019
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