Protecting Your Workers’ Ears for Their Safety

Protecting Your Workers’ Ears for Their Safety

man exposed to construction noiseDo you provide your construction workers with the needed safety gear, like construction hearing protection? Your firm’s workers have great value; you can only construct structures with the manpower they offer. This is why eskosafety.com and other experts noted that it would be to your benefit if you protect them from any harm that may otherwise hinder them from working.

What Can Noise Do?

You may have set safety guidelines for your construction workers regarding major hazards, such as live wire, heavy equipment, and others, but do your workers have hearing protection? The ears can easily be neglected in a construction site as people are familiar with city noise. Why will construction site noise be any different?

What Can Ears Hear?

The human ear can hear sounds within a range of 20Hz to 20,000Hz. In decibels (dB), you can hear down to 0dB such as the rustling of leaves. People with great hearing can hear sounds as low as -15dB. When sounds reach 85dB or higher, however, you can expect permanent ear damage that can accumulate over time and during extended exposure to loud sounds.

How Noisy is a City?

In cities, sounds can assault your ear from every direction. An idle diesel truck alone, which is 50 feet away from you, can attack with a 90dB of noise. What more can traffic, in general, do to your ears? How about a construction site?

How Noisy is a Construction Site?

Many tools and activities in construction sites expose workers to exceeding amounts of noise. Based on an eight-hour exposure, a bulldozer can reach 99dB of noise, hammering a nail can be up to 104dB of noise, and a jackhammer can reach 109dB of noise. With these tools and equipment alone, your workers can already sustain permanent ear damage.

What Can Noise Do to a Worker?

Once ear damage has occurred, hearing loss can severely impede the life of a worker. Work will be affected since they can have difficulty hearing instructions and other verbal communication. At the same time, their personal life will also be diminished.

With this, site managers truly need to protect the hearing of their workers. Construction will be more efficient with workers with good hearing.

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