Ear protectors

Noise must be comply with the Noise at Work Regulations and ear protectors with BS 6344, Industrial hearing protectors. 

The 86/188/ECC. (Ref 4) This directive states that if a maximum value of the unweighted instantaneous sound pressure level (SPL) is greater than 200 Pa, suitable and adequate ear protectors which can be reasonably expected to keep the risk to hearing to below the risk arising from exposure to 200 Pa must be used. It is on this directive that the U.K s Noise at Work regulations are based. 

Individuals can take many simple steps to protect themselves from the harmful effects of noise pollution. If people must be around loud sounds, they can protect their ears with ear plugs or ear protectors. They can muffle sound by using acoustic ceiling tiles, draperies, carpets, and sound-absorbing furniture in their homes, offices, and schools. They can also buy quieter models of machines and let store owners and manufacturers know that they prefer quieter products. Individuals can also help their communities investigate noise pollution and develop regulations to reduce the problem locally. 

Where needed, the hard hats and ear protectors used industrially can also be worn in cryogenic plants. Nonconductive, fire-resistant... 

Figure 4.2 Ear Protectors Must be Worn in this Area...

PPE is defined as aU equipment which is intended to be worn or held to protect against risk to health and safety. This includes most types of protective clothing and equipment such as eye protection, safety helmets, safety footwear, gloves, high-visibility clothing and safety harness. It does not include ear protectors and respirators which are covered by separate existing regulations. 

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. 

Figure 3.1 Ear protectors protect workers from noise at work.

Employers and employees should not rely too heavily on ear protectors. In practice, they reduce noise exposure far less than is often claimed, because they may be uncomfortable or inconvenient to wear. To be effective, ear protectors need to be worn all the time when in noisy places. If left off for even a short time, the best protectors cannot reduce noise exposure effectively. 

If you use ear protectors, are employees properly fitted and instructed in their use ... 

Individual ear protectors sound-absorbing cotton wool, ear plugs, ear muffs, acoustic helmets, etc. VDI 2560 "Personal hearing protection gives information on all matters relating to the subject. A review of types, a list of suppliers and particulars of equipment are given in LSI 01 -830 (1978). 

Instruction on the hazards due to non-use of personal protective equipment (e.g., wearing of safety helmets, safety footwear, ear protectors, etc.). 

The power-actuated tool operators must have and use appropriate personal protective equipment such as hard hats, safety goggles, safety shoes, and ear protectors whenever they are using the equipment. 

The elimination or reduction of excessive noise is a legal obligation to the employer. A safer and healthy environment for workers decreases the absenteeism and promotes the increase of productivity and profitability. However, the low cost and simplicity of implementation of ear protectors, made this option the most preferred and used (Arezes, 2002). 

Data collected covered 279 industrial companies from 8 different sectors, with 5101 workplaces and 10846 workers evaluated. The study consists in an analysis of data from the noise evaluation reports with the main objective to conclude which sector is the most noisiest and dangerous to Portuguese workers ear health in the Portuguese industry. Another important objective was to compare the results between the workplaces noise levels and workers daily noise exposure. The last important objective was to analyse if the attenuation that the ear protectors supplies is adequate. 

Table 5 summarizes the results obtained for the workers exposure to noise in each industry in accordance with what is legally stipulated. Based on the analysis of the results it can be concluded that 63 /o of the workers should use ear protectors, being mandatory the use of this protection equipment to 33%. Companies should conduct risk assessment, the adoption of measures to prevent or control the risk, perform appropriate control measures and monitoring the health of their workers in order to prevent workers being not harmed by activities with excessive noise levels. 

To verify if the earplugs used by exposed workers in their daily activity provide adequate attenuation, it was attempted to follow the criteria defined in the standard NP EN 458 2006, which are presented in Table 6. Thus, Table 7 shows the percentage of workers which are effectively exposed to different classes of noise values. It appears that, with the exception of the noisiest industries, most workers who use (or should use) earmuffs have at their disposal ear protectors with excessive attenuation. 

Figure 1. Changes in the rate of use of ear protectors over the observations.

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