Bootle, England — More than 75% of workers exposed to hazardous noise on the job lack essential knowledge about checking hearing protection for damage or reporting faulty equipment to their employers, a recent inspection campaign found.
Conducted by Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive, the campaign also uncovered lax employee training and equipment management.
About a quarter of the workplaces inspected had noise levels that required mandatory hearing protection, yet HSE found “concerning gaps” in the implementation of protective equipment management.
Nearly two-thirds of workers hadn’t received instruction on continuously wearing hearing protection during periods of harmful noise levels.
Other findings:
- 80% of workers received no instruction on how to properly wear hearing protection or how to avoid interference from hats, hoods or hair, as well as ensure compatibility with hard hats and eye protection.
- 95% of employers failed to verify whether workers could detect warning signals, such as fire alarms and vehicle reversing alerts, when wearing hearing protection.
“The gaps that we found in implementation are serious,” HSE Principal Specialist Inspector Chris Steel said. “They place an added risk to workers of excessive exposure to noise when they may believe they are being protected.”
To address those gaps, HSE is promoting a check system called “CUFF” to help employers assess the effectiveness of hearing protection. The acronym stands for:
Condition: Equipment integrity
Use: Proper deployment when needed
Fit the ear: Correct wearing of protection
Fit for purpose: Appropriate specification
HSE has published guidance and is delivering practical advice via webinars and industry events on effective implementation of hearing protection, programs and using the CUFF system.
