Hearing Protection
Hearing loss has been one of the most occupational concerns for the past 25 years. Each year thousands of employees experience some sort of preventable hearing loss from temporary to permanent. Not being able to hear is only one aspect of excessive noise. Your body responds to excessive noise in a variety of ways. Some reactions would be physical stress, psychological stress, distractions causing loss in productivity, and the inability to hear or recognize warning signals. It is mandatory for workers to wear hearing protection when the total weighted average (TWA) meets and exceeds 85 dB on the A scale. (OSHA)
Please note the following from the OSHA.gov website:
"To adjust for workplace conditions, OSHA strongly recommends applying a 50% correction factor when estimating field attenuation. This is especially important when considering whether engineering controls are to be implemented." You can access this and other information by clicking here.