SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2019 11
A SUPPLEMENT TO THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Save your hearing by wearing ear protection when working near loud equipment.
Jackie Jones is an education and training advisor at MHCA’s WORKSAFELY.
YEARS OF SAFETY EXCELLENCE 30
Sandy Joseph is with Industrial Health and Safety Solutions Inc.
PROTECT YOUR HEARING AT WORK AND AT HOME
BY JACKIE JONES AND SANDY JOSEPH
H earing loss is one of the most common occupational hazards, and one of the most preventable, according to Ontario’s Workers Safety Insurance Board. Whether at work on a construction site, or at home cutting the grass or using power tools, we can protect our hearing. Your hearing can be damaged without you knowing it. Volume, or loudness, is your impression of how intense sound is, but sounds can be more intense than you realize. The effect on your hearing depends on both intensity and how long you are exposed to intense sound, according to SAFE Work Manitoba’s Hearing Conservation and Noise Control Guide. Workplace exposure to high levels of noise can cause hearing loss. It is linked to other health effects, such as headaches, stress, increased blood pressure and increased irritability. High noise levels can also affect a worker’s ability to work safely, according to SAFE Work Manitoba. Heavy construction companies have been working to protect workers’ hearing for decades, and remain vigilant on the issue. Hearing can be impaired when a worker is exposed to noise levels of 85 decibels or more, over extended periods of time. You need to wear hearing protection if you have to raise your voice to talk to someone who is at arm’s length away. If our ears are ringing, or sounds seem dull or flat after leaving a noisy place, then you have been exposed to hazardous noise levels. The most accurate way to determine if noise is hazardous is to perform sound level assessments and dosimeter samples. “Companies may isolate equipment or put up barriers to reduce the source of noise, replace noisy outdated equipment, or require the use of personal protective equipment such as ear muffs or ear plugs,” explains Phil McDaniel, safety advisor at MHCA WORKSAFELY TM . Temporary loss in hearing can happen after exposure to loud sounds, says Sandy Joseph, of Industrial Health and Safety Solutions Inc. “This is known as a temporary threshold shift in hearing, which usually happens when we enjoy a hockey game, rock concert, or loud music using earphones, to name a few. “The more temporary shifts you have, the worse your hearing becomes over time.” Hearing loss is an invisible disability. Noise-induced hearing loss is the most prevalent and permanent occupation disease. It causes no pain, no visible trauma, leaves no visible scars and the damage is slow and insidious. When hearing fails, it can affect your quality of life and those around you. Impaired hearing makes it tough to be in crowds as it is hard to follow conversation. Many tend to withdraw from social settings. For those around the hearing-impaired person, it can lead to frustration as the need to repeat oneself becomes more evident. As we age, it is natural to lose some hearing. But those who don’t protect
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their hearing from hazardous noise over time begin to lose hearing at an early age. “The challenge with hearing loss is it rarely happens overnight and can take years to show itself. By then, it is too late,” Joseph cautions. “Regardless of whether you have hearing loss or not, it is always important to protect yourself from noise both during your working hours and during non- occupational activities such as snowmobiling, on ATVs, motorcycles and using power tools at home.” Often employees don’t want to use hearing protection, worried they won’t be able to hear important sounds on the job site. But hearing protection simply lowers the noise level of your equipment, it does not eliminate it. And some say they don’t want to wear their hearing protection because “they are used to the noise.” The sorry fact is, the only way you get used to noise is if your hearing is so damaged, you are deaf to it. The sadder fact is that, as Joseph points out, hearing loss due to noise is
painless, progressive, permanent and entirely preventable. Wearing hearing protection is the safe, easy option. ❱❱❱
751 Lagimodiere Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R2J 0T8 Email: bci@borlandconstruction.com Ph: (204) 255-6444 Fax: (204) 255-5209 borlandconstruction.com
Hearing testing at Industrial Health and Safety Solutions Inc.
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