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Posted By Alison Gillings
Anyone had experience and would care to comment on possible noise related risks when using personal earphones at work.
We currently have a large number of employees who due to their somewhat monotonous daily tasks remain sedentary for long periods of time and to ease the boredom personal earphones connected to Ipods etc have long since been permitted for use.
Would we still be liable for noise induced hearing loss because of the use of personal earphones at work.
Ali
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Posted By David Bannister
Hi Ali, as usual the answer is it all depends.
If there is significant workplace noise that you are not controlling and there is a later allegation of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) due to this exposure then you will have little chance of defending a civil claim.
However, if there is little or no significant noise generated through work activities and you are able to produce good evidence to support this, then you should be able to avoid liability for any NIHL.
Extended exposure to loud noise may produce NIHL - the source of the noise is irrelevant. Thus loud ipods at home, loud ipods at work, weekend clubbing or power presses at work can still result in hearing loss or tinnitus.
Hope this helps.
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Posted By holmezy
Ali,
yes. The earphones effectively localise and concentrate the sound levels directly into the ear canal, exactly what they are designed to do. Your problem will be actually measuring that sound level. It would be a difficult and interesting one to try and defend, because there is some many things that could vary, ie duration of wearing the earphones, volume variations ( either by user or different songs), wether they are worn out of work, other noise in the area, ppe available etc etc. I once went to a company were there was an excessive noise issue and the boss allowed ipods and earphones to be used. All that happened was that as the noise levels in the factory rose, so did the volume levels of the ipods. Next time you go into a workshop, you'll probably notice that the loudest piece of equipment is the radio!! And as the noise levels increase, so does the volume on the radio so they can still hear it!!
Unless your happy that the noise levels are below the limits and are controlled, might be worth prohibitting use.
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Posted By steve e ashton
In my opinion - NO.
The courts will not award damages unless the noise is 'occupational'. If the noise which caused NIHL is 'personal' as described in the original post then I cannot see an employer being held liable, even where such use has been 'allowed'.
If the use of earphones does not create other problems (can't hear instructions / emergency alarms etc) then there really is no reason to ban them on safety or liability grounds.
It's effectively the same scenario as an employer knowingly permitting an employee to use deodorant, even though it is known the employee may suffer allergic reaction. The employer is not responsible for the self-inflicted exposure of the employee, only his/her 'occupational' exposure.
Steve
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Posted By Linda Westrupp
In my opinion, NO. This is personal use, as has been said elsewhere. However, you could issue some general guidance about excessive use, having them too loud etc. (see RoSPA website, I'm sure there must be something there).
You also need, as a previous poster has said, to look at the risks of instructions, alarms etc. being missed.
But all, in all, I see no problem and it certainly gets round the old issue of which station to tune the works radio to.
Linda
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Posted By Andrew Meiklejohn
Complicated but I think the answer should be yes.
The reason the staff use the earphones is that the job is monotonous. So it could be argued that it is a form of stress management.
In my opinion you could also look at it this way - High heeled shoes are not appropriate footwear for many workplaces - if you identified that most of your slips trips and falls. and Musculo-skeletal disorders came from the users of high heeled shoes would you be obliged to take some form of action?
You are aware that there is a risk of of inducing hearing loss so some sort of action may be required.
It is possible to by headphones with limiters, however most of these are designed to cut out acoustic shock incidents and usually set
about 118dB(C) if you could supply head phones limited at 79dB problem solved?
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Posted By JEB
I believe that you are treading on very dangerous ground by allowing the wearing of personnel radios and it is not from the hearing loss issue. As we all know most of the people who wear these items usually have them far to loud therefore are completely unaware of what is going on around them. Verbal communication particularly on H&S issues may be not be heard, fire alarms may become inaudible. Consider carefully your decision to allow the wearing them.
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Posted By Sammantha Truluck
Spot on..... This would be my concern I look after a warehouse and I have stopped bluetooth headsets and personal stereos as Forklifts operate in the same area. I have let them have a radio on though to relieve the stress.
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Posted By Merv Newman
Point the first : Do you have scientific/technical evidence that the noise levels experienced by your employees because of their work is less than the action level ? If yes you gain one point.
Point the second : could employees wearing personal earphones be more at risk than those who do not ? (not hearing alarms, fork lift trucks or screams of rage from 1st line supervision ?) If yes you lose 10 points.
Point the third : will exciting music or (in the case of portable telephones) messages from loved/hated ones distract the employee from normal awareness of risks associated with their work ? If yes then there goes another 10 points.
Point the fourth : does listening to music help the employee to work rhythmically and keep up with the job cycle ? If yes then you gain a point (maybe two)
I once met a crew who's job was to mate van engines to front chassis. Crew cuts, earrings, tattoos, bare arms. Their radio was blasting out "RAM DAM" :classics with muscle. Ride of the Valkyries, Hall of the Mountain Kings, Beethoven's fifth etc. Never an accident recorded from that group.
I bought the CD
Merv
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Posted By Michael Ward
We currently had a similar problem and carried out a risk assessment on the wearing of earphones. It was concluded that only one earpiece should be used due to the hearing and observation of workplace transport within the warehouse, fire alarms, etc. Employees were briefed on the control measures to be implemented and were told any breach of these procedures, a disciplinary hearing would follow.
Hope this helps
Michael
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