Facility Safety Management

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Construction Work Safety
Hearing Loss No Longer The ‘Price to Pay’

While noise hazards have not changed significantly in the past 20 years, the ability to protect construction workers has advanced significantly, according to Brad Witt, Audiology and Regulatory Affairs manager for the Hearing Safety Group of Bacou-Dalloz.

Better technology in noise measurement, innovations in hearing protection devices (HPDs), and a heightened understanding of how to manage competing hazards can all contribute to improved hearing conservation efforts in construction and similar industries.

“We definitely see a trend toward protecting workers who were previously considered ‘unprotectable,’ such as construction workers,” said Witt. “A construction job site is constantly on the move,
with warning signals coming from any direction at any time. For years, workers rationalized their avoidance of hearing protectors by claiming their awareness of more dangerous hazards (falls, electrocutions, and traumatic blows) would be compromised.

But noise-induced hearing loss no longer has to be ‘the price we pay’ for working in construction.”
Hearing protection devices are now available that address workers’ concern of overprotection. These products protect workers without sacrificing communication and warning signal detection.

HPDs come in a wide range of attenuation levels, giving workers the freedom to select the right level of protection for their specific job.

Several earplugs and earmuffs have even been designed with speech communication in mind, providing uniform attenuation across all frequencies so that voices of coworkers can be heard with less distortion.

Electronic earmuffs can also enhance communication by amplifying ambient sounds—including speech and warning signals—to a safe level, while protecting against louder, more damaging noise.
“Construction job sites require hearing protectors that fit with other PPE, such as hard hats, respirators, visors and face shields,” said Witt.

Special application products, such as earmuffs that slot onto hard hats or neckband earmuffs worn around the neck, are readily available along with other HPDs, such as banded earplugs and folding earmuffs that provide easy storage and portability, and make it easy to carry protection at all times for unexpected noise exposure.

“And since nobody on a construction job site wants to take the time to wash their hands each time they roll down a foam earplug,” Witt added, “innovative no-roll models have been developed which can be
inserted simply by pushing the earplug into the ear canal.”

“OSHA’s intentions regarding regulation of noise hazards in the construction industry have not yet been made clear,” said Witt. “But whatever direction they take, the hearing protector device technology is available to help. By making HPDs more comfortable and convenient to wear, and by offering protectors that improve the worker’s ability to communicate, we hope to remove those barriers
which have hindered the use of these devices, and have left a generation of hearing impaired workers in their wake.”

Noise Hazardous Environments
Today, the focus is definitely more on sound management: on attenuating the hazardous noise to a level that still allows communication and warning signal detection.

“In noise-hazardous environments, we are not trying to eliminate all sound,” said Witt. “There are still sounds we want to hear, such as co-worker voices, warning signals, mobile radios, and even some machinery noise that may alert us to malfunction or maintenance needs. Wearing high-attenuation protectors without regard to communication creates a feeling of hazardous isolation, being cut off from the verbal and audible cues that keep us safe and connected with our work.”

In response, HPD manufacturers are increasingly working to develop more innovative products that protect without compromising these basic communication needs. One way this has been accomplished, according to Witt, is by designing HPDs with “flatter” attenuation characteristics.

“First-generation earplugs and earmuffs were not so effective against low-frequency noise, but attenuated high-frequency noise quite easily. These ski-slope attenuation curves created a distorted sound while wearing HPDs, making speech difficult to understand.

”In contrast, newer generations of hearing protectors have raised low-frequency attenuation significantly, nearly matching the high-frequency attenuation. “This flatter attenuation curve creates a sound while wearing HPDs which is more natural,” said Witt. “It still blocks the noise, but with less
distortion of speech and warning signals.

The effect is most noticeable for workers who have some existing hearing loss, even a mild loss.”

Another innovative approach to managing the sound in loud environments is through sound amplification earmuffs.

“How many times have we seen workers remove their earplugs to hear a radio call, or lift up their earmuff to talk to a coworker?” Witt asked. “Sound amplification earmuffs have microphones, placed
directionally on the ear cups, which amplify normal sounds to a safe level while still protecting from the hazardous workplace noise. The result is that workers have more control over hearing what they need to hear, without compromising protection.”

Witt predicts this trend will guide new product development for several years to come. “We are just now beginning to take full advantage of recent advances in material and manufacturing technology which make these new approaches to hearing protection possible and economically viable,” he said. “This, in turn, has sparked new developments in the design of these systems so we can better control not only how much, but the manner in which sound reaches the human ear.” FSM