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#1 Posted : 25 April 2008 07:41:00(UTC)
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Posted By William Wright I wondered if anyone out there could assist me? My company have now made it compulsary to wear ear defenders, this is not a problem. The problem is the type of ear defenders that the company is issuing, many of the staff are complaining that they are uncomfortable and are giving them headache etc. Also the engineering staff are saying they cannot communicate with each other whilst working on machinery. However, back to my point, I wondered if anyone has any questionaires etc to issue to staff so as to get some feed back to take to the companies health & safety commitee? thanks Billy
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#2 Posted : 25 April 2008 09:18:00(UTC)
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Posted By David Whaley William, Not sure what type of questionnaire you are after. But you should take into account that hearing protection is personal protective equipment (PPE), therefore it must be suitable for the individual who must use it and compatible with any other PPE that may be used. It is normal to provide a choice of different types, but all with the correct range of attenuation. You should also carry out an assessment of any risks that may be introduced by the provision of the PPE. You will find there is always a group, or individuals, who claim they cannot carry out their tasks when wearing PPE. In some cases this problem doesn't really exist, it's just a perception. In other it may introduce genuine problems. You can look at other forms of communications e.g. hand signals. You could consider hearing defenders with built in communication sets, but these tend to be expensive, if you go down this route, work with your supplier to trial different types, some are not very good. Hope this helps David
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#3 Posted : 25 April 2008 16:20:00(UTC)
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Posted By Chris121 as part of the assessment process your employer has an obligation to calulate the performace of hearing protection. Hearing protection should ensure exposure is less than 85dB(A) but should, preferably, be between 75 – 80dB(A). Less than 70dB(A) would be regarded as over protection. see this website for further detail http://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/hearingcalc.xls
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