Ear-muffs

Masks are available with battery-powered filter paeks whieh supply filtered air to a faeepieee from a haversaek filter unit. Anotlier type eomprises a proteetive helmet ineorporating an eleetrieally operated fan and filter unit eomplete with faee vizor and provision for ear muffs. 

Ear muffs are designed to cover the entire ear and typically reduce levels by 5-50 dB, depending on the muff type and sound frequency. These can be used in lieu of or in addition to ear plugs. When both plugs and muffs are worn, noise protection is greater than either individually but is not additive. Muffs may be more comfortable to some compared to ear plugs. However, they may also interfere with other PPE such as hard hats. Special... 

Typical ear muffs. (From Baukal, C.E., Industrial Combustion Pollution and Control, New York Marcel Dekker, 2004.)... 

Issue safety shoes, goggles, hard hats, ear muffs, gloves, back supports, and other safety equipment and ensure that equipment is used to protect employees. 

Hearing Noise Ear plugs— universal or custom fit, semi-insert ear plugs, ear muffs... 

Hard hats that have recesses in the rim allow ear muffs to slide up and down easily without restricting fit, performance and comfort. 

The Utility Catcher clip is a versatile Catch-Air for everything you haven t already caught yet. Originally designed as an easy and convenient way to keep up with a hard hat, the Utility Catcher is actually a multipurpose clip that can be used to keep up with Face shields, cords, ear muffs, key rings, welding strikers, tape reels and much more Call (888) 660-6133 or email safety gloveguard.com. 

Where individuals must be subjected to some noise at work, it may be reduced by ear protectors. These may be disposable ear plugs, reusable ear plugs or ear muffs. The chosen ear protector must be suited to the user and suitable for the type of noise, and individual personnel should be trained in its correct use. 

At the first action level an employee must be provided with ear protection (ear muffs or ear plugs) on request. At the second action level the employer must reduce, so far as is reasonably practicable, other than by providing ear protection, the exposure to noise of that employee. 

The reduction, expressed in decibels, of sound intensity to an observer either due to the distance from the source of noise or due to a barrier or acoustically treated material. See also Ear Muffs Hearing Protection. 

Figure 28-2. Examples of (a) ear muffs and (b) ear plugs. (Photos provided by and reprinted with the permission of 3M Corporation.)...

Head protection must be worn at all times. In all heavy construction areas, required foot protection includes steel-toe shoes with heavy-duty soles to help prevent crushing and penetration. Flaggers are on their feet most of the time, so their shoes need to fit well and be comfortable. Hearing protection includes earplugs or high-tech ear-muffs. For safety reasons, every worker should be able to hear the muted sounds of the construction site—and they should never wear headphones or headsets plugged into a music audio device. And don t forget a face mask for dust protection. 

FIGURE 24.10 Workers wearing ear muffs as hearing protection. 

This aspect is relevant also to the question of whether an employer has provided protective equipment such as gloves, goggles and ear-muffs to reduce or prevent exposure to foreseeable risk of injury. 

Wearers of ear defenders who fail to incorporate the notion of time weighted average exposure in their concept of what constitutes dangerous noise. Hence they fail to realise that just taking the ear-muffs off for a few moments to let the ears breathe in high noise areas can negate much of their protective effect. 

Making the workplace safe is preferable to relying on personal protection however, this regard for personal protection as a last line of defence should not obscure the need for the provision of competent people to select equipment and administer the personal protection scheme once the decision to use this control strategy has been taken. Personal protection is not an easy option and it is important that the correct protection is given for a particular hazard, e.g. the correct filter for a welding operation or ear muffs/plugs prescribed after octave band measurements of the noise source. 

Ear-muffs consist of rigid cups to cover the ears, held in position by a sprung head band. The cups have acoustic seals of polyurethane foam or a liquid-filled annular sac. 

The two major methods of personnel protection are the provision of a quiet room or peace haven, and the wearing of ear-muffs or ear-plugs. The peace haven is similar in construction to an acoustic enclosure, and is used to keep the noise out. Ear-muffs or ear-plugs should be regarded only as the final resort to noise control. Their selection should be made with care having regard for the noise source, the environment and comfort of the wearer. 

Figure 20.15 Attenuation characteristics of different hearing protectors (A ear-muffs B piastic foam ear-plugs C acoustic wool ear-plugs)...

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