ONIHL Awareness
If hearing protectors are worn properly, occupational noise-induced hearing loss is reduced.
On average, hearing protection devices are only worn for about 38 percent of the time that a worker is exposed to excessive noise. A study from the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences shows that raising awareness among employees and providing proper training can have a positive impact on their wear rate.
The first key step in your hearing conservation campaign is when the ear impressions (moulds) are taken. This is done on-site, by a hearing protection specialist, at a time convenient for you.
During this appointment, your employees will learn about:
Download free posters and awareness-raising tools to help your hearing conservation program:
You want to reduce noise related risks in your business, but where to begin? What hearing protection should you choose? How to involve your employees and facilitate the implementation of your selected solution?
Start with these three easy steps:
As an employer, you must implement a hearing conservation program for all employees who need to wear hearing protection.
You must ensure that your training includes:
Occupational Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (ONIHL) is a perceptive deafness that is caused by exposure to noise in the workplace. It is characterised by a reduction in hearing acuity: the transmission of sound is correct, but its perception is defective. It corresponds to the destruction of ciliated cells.
If the deafness is identified as an occupational disease, the organization is responsible.
In terms of safety and prevention, the employer has an obligation to achieve a result. If an employee is diagnosed with ONIHL due to their professional activity, but the employer provides him with equipment for prevention and protection, the law will take into account all of these elements.
When you train your employees on noise-related risks, you make them responsible and conscious of the fact that they are exposing themselves to an invisible danger every day. They become responsible for their own hearing health and adopt proper behaviours: wearing their hearing protection devices constantly during exposure, not taking them off while communicating, and so on. If hearing protection devices are properly worn, the risk of noise-induced hearing loss is reduced.
A hearing conservation program is a set of actions taken to train and inform your employees about Occupational Noise-Induced Hearing Loss.
Simple suggestions that will ensure a successful hearing conservation program: