Noise-induced Hearing Loss
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) presents an ongoing threat to the UK’s workforce. According to the HSE, over two million people in the UK are exposed to potentially dangerous levels of noise at work. Further, NIHL is the second-most common reason for employers’ liability insurance claims for occupational health.
NIHL is a unique condition, because it generally occurs slowly, over time. As a result, workers who begin to experience the condition may not realise that they have hearing loss until the damage has become significant. Unfortunately, damage to one’s hearing is completely irreversible.
But damage to one’s hearing is also entirely preventable. With the right approach, it’s possible to effectively tackle NIHL and better protect the hearing health of your workers.
Integrating CUFF into your noise monitoring and management plans
Historically, businesses throughout the UK have relied upon third party risk assessments to inform their approach to noise monitoring and management at work. And while risk assessments can be useful for establishing a baseline with regards to your risk environment, they fall well short of truly providing you with the information you need to effectively protect your workers from hearing loss caused by occupational noise.
The reality is that workplaces are dynamic and often unpredictable in nature, and it’s nearly impossible to capture a representative or reliable picture of your risk environment following a risk assessment that lasts a matter of hours or days.
It’s also difficult to know whether your workers’ hearing protection is doing its job. Ear plugs or ear muffs are standard on worksites, but even with diligent use, a worker might still be exposed to potentially dangerous levels of noise at work. Per the HSE, simply using hearing protection isn’t enough to protect your workers. You must also take steps to ensure that your hearing protection is functioning properly.
To do this, the HSE suggests the “CUFF” approach:
Getting more from the CUFF method
Coupled with regular risk assessments, the CUFF approach can be a good starting point for teams who want to elevate the way they tackle NIHL among their workforce.
But the reality is that answering questions about the condition, use, fit, and adequacy of your hearing protection is incredibly difficult without actual data or insight. How can you know if your hearing protection is in good condition or fitted properly if you don’t have a way to monitor how much noise your workers are actually exposed to?
To really get the most from your efforts to protect the hearing health of your workers, you need access to information that will enable you to answer these questions, and take appropriate action.
Smart Alert + Reactec: Elevate your approach to occupational noise monitoring
Today, there are modern technologies available that can support teams as they work to improve their overall approach to occupational noise monitoring and management.
Cloud-powered, purpose-built solutions are engineered to provide you with an unprecedented level of information about your risk environment with regards to noise. With this insight, teams are finding it easier than ever to understand their workplace, refine their controls, and drive safer ways of working.
Smart Alert by Minuendo is industry-defining technology for better occupational noise monitoring. It’s trusted by teams in construction, aerospace, manufacturing, and more to support a more modern, more reliable approach to risk management with regard to noise.
Smart Alert itself replaces your standard-issue ear plugs, and can be easily worn underneath additional hearing protectors (ear muffs). When worn, Smart Alert provides continuous, personalised monitoring of both the ambient noise level and the noise level inside the ear, and alerts wearers when they’re approaching or exceeding their exposure thresholds. And with hear-through technology, Smart Alert ensures that workers remain situationally aware at all times.
Plus, because Smart Alert is fully integrated with Reactec’s Analytics software, the data collected by the device is automatically transformed into intelligence which is presented in an attractive, dashboard-style format that’s easy to analyse and apply. And if you use Reactec to monitor and manage your workers’ risk to exposure from vibration, dust, or dangerous proximity, you’ll be able to effortlessly layer your noise-focussed intelligence on top of your other analytics for an even more comprehensive view into your total workplace risk environment.
With Smart Alert + Reactec’s Analytics, it’s easy to identify when and where workers are being exposed to potentially dangerous levels of noise. This makes it possible to understand whether a worker is experiencing issues related to the condition of their hearing protection, and whether a worker is being over-protected (i.e., whether their kit provides a level of noise reduction that’s unnecessary for their working environment). With this data (and more), you can answer the CUFF questions with confidence, and take decisive action to refine your controls, or address worker behaviours.
The HSE recommends that employers use ‘CUFF’ to ensure that their hearing protection is doing what it’s meant to do - protect workers from irreversible and potentially devastating damage to their hearing health.
But without the tools in place to really understand the condition, fit, and adequacy of your current hearing protection, CUFF runs the risk of becoming an empty exercise that doesn’t actually move the health and safety needle.
To learn more about Reactec’s partnership with Minuendo - including how Smart Alert works, and how it’s integrated with the Reactec ecosystem of workplace wearable technology - you can explore this article about preventing NIHL in the workplace.
