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Home Safety for the Ears


Employers tend to do a great job to help combat noise in the work place by using engineering controls and by the use of hearing protection, but what about when the work day is done and you and your employees go home? 

Be informed...
ear protection doesn't stop after work...

Continuous

 Sound dB(A)

Unprotected Permissible

Exposure Time

85

8 hours

88

4 hours

91

2 hours

94

1 hour

97

30 minutes

100

15 minutes

103

7.5 minutes

106

<4 minutes

109

<2 minutes

112

Approx 1 minutes

115

Approx 30 seconds

       NIOSH (1998)

       

          Amount of

                dB          Item Measured

                140+      Shot gun, rifle, jet plane take off

                130        Jackhammer, heavy industry

                120        Rock concert

                110        Power tools, snowmobile

                100        Chainsaw, motorcycle

                  90         Lawnmower

                  80         City traffic

                  70         Vacuum cleaner, hair dryer

                  60         Office, sewing machine

                  50         Normal conversation


 

Noise between 0 - 80dB should not cause damage to your hearing if you are not exposed for great lengths of time. The threshold where we feel pain in our ears is around 120 dB.

A one time exposure or 120 dB or more, no matter how brief can leave your hearing permanently damaged.

Prolonged exposure to 85dB can also leave your hearing permanently damaged!

Take a moment to:

 

  • EDUCATE your employees that hearing protection does not stop when we leave work
  • PROTECT your hearing with ear plugs and or ear muffs as we do activities that generate loud noise
  • EDUCATE that even one shot from a gun while sighting it in, can cause permanent and profound hearing loss
  • EDUCATE that when shooting, a good pair of "Shooters Muffs" ear muffs, specially designed for shooting, are worn. {The muffs used for standard noise reduction are not the best equipment to use for shooting.}
  • EDUCATE that while wearing ear buds or ear phones, if people around you can hear your music, it can be damaging your hearing
  • ENCOURAGE your employees to wear ear plugs in their vehicle as they enjoy the windows and tops down
  • ENCOURAGE them to take this home to loved ones who do activities that loud noise is involved and educate them on hearing protection benefits
Hearing protection is now available at most general stores. Many people suffer needlessly from hearing loss, preventable by simply wearing hearing protection when exposed to noise. Wear hearing protection proudly; enjoy the sounds that matter later in life like our family telling us they love us, the cry of a newborn grandchild and laughter.

Holy Family Memorial Work Health Options offers on-site and clinic audiometric testing to our customers. This testing reveals where your hearing ability is. We do complete reporting to comply with Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) requirements.

 


Now available from Work Health Options...
CUSTOM-FIT HEARING PROTECTION!

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