5.4 Personal hearing protectors
Hearing protection areas
Selection of personal hearing protectors
Inspection and maintenance
Information and training
A personal hearing protector is a device, or pair of devices, designed to be worn over or inserted in the ears of a person to protect hearing. It is not appropriate to use personal hearing protectors in low noise environments, that is LAeq,8h 55- 85 dB(A). Noise levels in this range should be controlled by elimination, engineering or administrative control measures.
Personal hearing protectors should be used when levels of excessive noise cannot be reduced by using other control measures. Workers or others at the workplace should be:
- supplied with personal hearing protectors
- instructed in their correct usage
- instructed to wear them when exposed to noise
- monitoring the wearing of them by workers
Personal hearing protectors should not be used as a substitute for engineering or administrative noise control measures. Hearing protectors should normally be regarded as an interim measure while reduction of noise exposure is being achieved by other control measures.
In noisy areas removing personal hearing protectors for even short periods will significantly reduce their effectiveness. This can result in inadequate protection and cause irreversible hearing damage. Taking hearing protectors off for even 15 minutes in a day (3% of an 8 hour day) can expose a worker to excessive noise. Hearing protectors need to be worn 100% of the time to be effective.
There are some problems with wearing personal hearing protectors for long periods in certain environments. Some of these problems, like the risk of ear infections, can be reduced by regular brief periods in quiet areas, without the hearing protectors. This practice should be included in a personal hearing protection program.
A personal hearing protection program is a plan for protecting a person’s hearing and includes regular hearing testing. A personal hearing protection program can be adopted where technical problems make it impossible to reduce exposure to excessive noise by engineering or administrative noise control measures, or delay their implementation.
Hearing protection areas
Areas where persons may be exposed to excessive noise should be signposted as ‘hearing protection areas’. The boundaries of these areas should be clearly defined. No person, including visitors, manager or supervisor, should enter a hearing protection area during normal operation unless they wear appropriate personal hearing protectors. This is regardless of how long the person spends in the hearing protection area.
Signs used to identify these areas should conform to AS 1319 Safety signs for the occupational environment (non-Queensland Government link)
Correct selection can be confirmed with a supplier of workplace health and safety signs. Additional signs within the hearing protection areas may also be necessary.Alternative arrangements for defining hearing protection areas should be made in consultation with workers if sign-posting is not possible. This should be done to make sure workers and others can recognise situations where personal hearing protectors are required.
Methods of achieving this include:
- attaching prominent warning notices to tools and equipment to show that personal hearing protectors must be worn when operating them
- providing written and verbal instructions on how to recognise circumstances in which personal hearing protectors are needed
- effective supervision of identified ‘hearing protection areas’.
Selection of personal hearing protectors
It is important to ensure that personal hearing protectors will provide wearers with reliable adequate protection. Personal hearing protectors should be selected in accordance with Part 3 of AS/NZS 1269 Occupational noise management (non-Queensland Government link) and should comply with the requirements of Australian Standard/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 1270 Acoustics – Hearing Protectors (non-Queensland Government link) The attenuation values used in all selection procedures should be derived from attenuation measurements made in accordance with AS/NZS 1270.
Suppliers should provide full information on the attenuation provided by the protectors, including the SLC80 ratings, Class15 and octave band attenuation values. Supplier’s reports should be available to workers and workplace health and safety representatives. Additional information is available in the National Acoustics Laboratories’ publication Attenuation and use of Hearing Protectors.
When adequate hearing protection can be given by personal hearing protectors, the user should be allowed to choose from the range of appropriate protectors. Individual selection of personal hearing protectors should be based on:
- The degree of protection required in the worker’s environment. Personal hearing protectors with unnecessarily high attenuation (noise reduction) may cause communication difficulties and ultimately be unsuitable because of discomfort and inconvenience.
- Suitability for use in the type of working environment and the job involved. For example, ear plugs are difficult to use hygienically in work that requires them to be inserted with dirty hands. For these jobs, ear muffs might be better. On the other hand, ear muffs can be more uncomfortable in hot environments, or may make it difficult for the wearer to enter a confined space or to wear a helmet.
- The comfort, weight and clamping force of the hearing protector.
- The fit to the user. Individual fitting is necessary for optimum protection. This should be checked while the user is wearing other regularly used items that might affect the performance of the hearing protector. For example, spectacle wearers should be fitted with earmuffs while wearing their normal spectacles. Disposable plugs do not need individual fitting. However, the ability of the material to conform to the user’s ear canal should be taken into account.
- The safety of the wearer and fellow workers. For example, the suitability for use with any other personal protective equipment that might be required, like safety helmets or respiratory protective equipment. By correctly selecting personal hearing protectors, warning sounds will not be masked when the protector is worn. The use of personal hearing protectors may make it more difficult for workers to hear sounds, especially if they already have a hearing deficiency. Particular care needs to be exercised in these cases.
Inspection and maintenance
Employers, or other obligation holders should ensure that workers’ personal hearing protectors are regularly inspected and maintained. Workers should inspect personal hearing protectors regularly to detect and report damage or deterioration.
Obligation holders should ensure that a system is instituted to determine appropriate maintenance of personal protective equipment.
This system should cover at least:
- the responsibilities for maintenance;
- the designation of personnel;
- storage procedures;
- cleaning procedures;
- checking procedures; and
- criteria for replacement.
Further information can be found in part 3 of AS/NZS 1269.
Information and training
Employers, or other obligation holders, should explain the need for personal hearing protectors before they are issued to workers. Workers should be given guidance in the selection of appropriate personal hearing protectors and instructed that the selection of an appropriate personal hearing protector is based on the amount of attenuation required for the environment and task to be undertaken. Instruction in their use, fitting, care and maintenance should be repeated at regular intervals.
Employers, managers and supervisors should lead by example and ensure that personal hearing protectors are used correctly where and when required. Workers who have been properly instructed in the use of personal hearing protectors, should wear them where and when required.
15 ‘Class’ means a hearing protector classification for noise exposure levels as specified by AS/NZS 1269 part 3.
Last updated 22 July 2008