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Balance problem caused by wearing ear defenders
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Posted By Jonathan Sandler Dear reader, Has anybody come across this problem before? Ear defenders must be worn in this designated noisey area. The user has a balance problem. 1.There is no other works this employee can do as this is a small printing company and the person is fully trained as a finisher. 2. They have been with the Company for many years and wants to work. 3. We have tried many different types of ear defenders, but they all have the same result, loss of balance. 4. The person is fit to do the work, as stated by their doctor.
All ideas welcomed. Thank you for your time and comments. Jonathan Sandler
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Posted By Paul Craythorne Jonathan,
You have stated that the area is noisy and that you have tried all types of ear defenders.
What have you done with regard to reducing the noise at source (e.g. engineering controls) as this comes higher up the pecking order in the hierarchy of control measures?
If all engineering controls have been explored and found to be not reasonably practicable what about reducing his exposure by other means (e.g. reducing the amount of time he spends at the noise source to bring his daily dose below the second action level).
If ear protection is the only reasonably practicable control (and you may have to justify this to the HSE or a court of law at some point in the future) then it is difficult to see an alternative to him wearing it.
Have you tried all the major manufacturers to see if there is some specialised protection available (he may not be the only person in the working world with this particular problem)?
Regards,
Paul Craythorne
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Posted By Robert M Edwards You mention Doctor but is this a GP we are talking about here? If so then I would in addition to Paul's comments on mitigating the risk caused by the level of noise also consider a full investigation into the balance issue.
An occupational specialist in ear and hearing disorders should be able to advise further on the reasons for this.
In some of the cases I have dealt with involving loss of balance and hearing it is discernable on examination and tests. If he cannot protect his hearing because of the risk of loss of balance then you will need the report to consider alternative duties in any event.
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