Should Your Employees Be Wearing Hearing Protection? Hearing Conservation Programs

According to Stats Canada, 42% of Canadians aged 16 to 79 years have worked or currently work in an environment where it is required to speak in a raised voice to communicate with someone standing an arm’s length away. Among these individuals, 24% always used hearing protection, while 41% never did. The remaining 35% used hearing protection often, sometimes, or rarely.¹

Workplace hearing loss is something that happens gradually, and is very hard to notice until it’s too late! The statistics above show that a large portion of Canadians work in a noisy environment where they need to speak louder than usual in order to communicate with their co-workers. As an employer, this issue needs to be dealt with before it becomes a bigger problem for both the employer and the employee.

Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) claims account for about 23% of all allowed occupational disease claims in Canada. Manufacturing accounts for 26% of these claims and construction accounts for 15%.² Think about the manufacturing and construction industry: these both include heavy machinery and tools that can be damaging to hearing. Without the proper hearing protection or hearing program in place, these NIHL claims will only go up.

WSPS lists some of the common sources of noise as:

• Grinding operations
• Machinery powered by compressed air (air jet noise)
• Fume extraction and ventilation fans
• Gears, especially those driving several pieces of equipment
• Tools
• Squealing pigs

To help you out, we’ve created an infographic that shows the sound exposure level of several sounds you will recognize. The permissible daily exposure to 85 dB is 8 hours, therefore employers must make sure that employees are protected if they will be working in those conditions. As the sound level increases, the daily exposure decreases. For example, the permissible daily exposure to 110 dB (or a baby crying) is only 1.88 minutes. ³ 

As an employer, where do you begin when addressing workplace hearing loss?

A good start is an Industrial Hygiene Study and from there you can work out the most appropriate Surveillance Program for your organization. Call our Occupational Health experts to collaborate on a program that best suits the needs of your organization.

Sources:
1. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-625-x/2016001/article/14658-eng.htm
2. http://www.cos-mag.com/personal-process-safety/32351-wsib-asking-workers-how-old-are-your-ears/
3. http://www.wsps.ca/WSPS/media/Site/Resources/Downloads/HearingConservation_Final.pdf?ext=.pdf

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