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Posted By Nicholas Morris
More Noise at Work concerns....
We have identified a further group of employees who are exposed to above 85dB(A). One of these is a deaf worker. The obvious question...does she need hearing protection if the others are made to wear it?
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Posted By Adrian Clifton
Nicholas
If the worker is completely deaf, then providing hearing protection serves no purpose at all. If, however, the worker has partial hearing then you must do what you can to protect what level of hearing this person has.
Adrian
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Posted By Stuart Scott
Interesting.....
We have a had a quick chat here and drew a blank, yes no and maybe is what we decided on.
Yes, if you wish to ensure that employees who are 'sheep' follow suit and wear there hearing protection - we all know how difficult it can be when people say "well he/shes not wearing them why should I"
No, as they will offer no protection.
Maybe, as under the DDA you can not discriminate against persons with a disability.
Good question though
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Posted By Stuart Scott
Also the HSE suggest mandatory hearing protection or demarkation zones only if it is absolutly necassery.
Have the workers been assessed over a daily and weekly period? or are the noise levels consistantly way above 85dbA?
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Posted By David O'Hara
People who are deaf more often than not do still retain some hearing.
The person you should really be asking is the employee.
David
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Posted By Margaret Baxter
I'm no Physicist, but isn't the pitch of the noise
relevant? My son is profoundly deaf, but while he
can hear certain low-pitched sounds at 85dB, he
wouldn't hear anything at the top of the "speech
spectrum". It's best therefore to involve the
worker in this, and maybe an Audiologist, through
Occupational Health, before deciding what is the solution for this person.
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Posted By Diane Thomason
Agree strongly with Margaret here.
Does she have any residual hearing? If so then protection of the residual hearing is crucial( by noise attenuation at the correct frequencies.)
Get specialist advice (if you haven't already.) If she is a hearing aid user she could perhaps get advice from her own audiologists.
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Posted By Paul Costelloe CMIOSH
The case of Pariss Vs Stepney Borough Council might have some relevance here. Greater duty of care was owed to provide a one-eyed man with eye protection. Just a thought ?
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Posted By Alastair Mason
Have to agree with Margeret and Paul. I'm no expert on hearing conditions, but if the individual has any ability to use the sense of hearing, it means that she will suffer significantly greater loss than other employees if control measures (including hearing protection) are not provided. I would strongly suggets expert advice on this one.
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Posted By AlB
Would a deaf person still suffer pain from loud noise? What if peak noise was up to 120dB or higher? Would the sound pressure cause pain?
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Posted By Diane Thomason
This is going off the point a bit (sorry Nicholas) but to answer AlB, "deaf" people can indeed feel pain from loud noise, depending on their type of hearing loss. I have a partial hearing loss and one of the features of my particular condition is a REDUCED threshold of pain, so though I don't hear speech well I am unusually sensitive to loud noise.
It all depends on the individual - everyone's hearing loss is different - hence my advice to Nicholas to get the person to talk to their audiologist about hearing protection (if appropriate.)
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Posted By sharon Field
hi nicholas
we have people working in our woodwork shop I asked the staff what they do there. they said they allways offer ear protection to all staff in the work shop
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Posted By Ali
Is she at risk of noise-induced deafness ? Rememeber, if in doubt "action taken should be proportional to risk" - does this help ?
Ali
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