Source www.e-how.com
OSHA requires employers to report injuries.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a part of the U.S. Department of Labor that creates workplace requirements to keep employees safe. OSHA requires employers to report employee injuries from working so that it has data about injury rates in different industries and a record of injuries at different places of employment.
Fatalities and Multiple Hospitalizations
Employers must report deaths and multiple hospitalizations promptly over the phone. OSHA requires that employers report fatalities and incidents that cause more than three hospitalizations to OSHA by phone within eight hours of the incident. Employers do not, however, have to report transportation accidents that occur away from the workplace. This reporting deadline is much more pressing than the deadline for less serious injuries.
Recordkeeping
Employers must keep a record of injuries or illnesses that cause death, days away from work, medical treatment, loss of consciousness, restricted ability to work, transfer to another job and injuries or illnesses diagnosed by a physician, according to OSHA injury reporting requirements. Employers do not need to report injuries that require only basic first aid, such as minor cuts. OSHA provides forms 300 and 300A for reporting injuries and illnesses.
Recorded Information
Employers must include in their reports the company name, the time of the injury, the location of the injury, the number of injured employees, the names of injured employees, company contact information and a description of the accident.
Hearing Loss
Employers must report work-related hearing loss as an injury.The OSHA requires employers to record and report employee hearing loss. OSHA defines hearing loss as a hearing threshold change of 10 decibels or more at 2000, 3000 and 4000 hertz in one or both ears.
Needlesticks and Sharps
Employers report needlesticks as an injury. According to OSHA injury reporting requirements, employers must report any incidents during which an employee is cut or poked with something contaminated by another person's blood or other infectious contamination. This type of incident gets recorded on form 300 as an injury.
Tuberculosis
Employers must record and report cases of tuberculosis that occur in employees after known exposure to tuberculosis at work. Employers should report these cases as injuries on form 300 and check them off as a "respiratory condition," according to OSHA requirements.
Read more: OSHA Injury Reporting Requirements | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6663630_osha-injury-reporting-requirements.html#ixzz0wlvIoJcW
Source www.bloomberg.com/news
Hearing loss among U.S. adolescents has surged, probably because of the use of devices such as earbuds for listening to music, doctors say.
Researchers surveyed a sample of children ages 12 to 19 in 2005 and 2006 and found that 19.5 percent had some hearing loss, compared with 14.9 percent in a study covering the years 1988 to 1994, according to a report published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Hearing loss of 25 decibels or more -- enough that the children were often aware of the deficit -- increased to 5.3 percent of the sample, from 3.5 percent in the earlier group.
Listening to loud sounds through earbuds -- the tiny electronic speakers that fit into ears, for use with personal music players -- is probably the main reason that more adolescents are losing some of their hearing, said William Slattery, director of clinical studies at the House Ear Institute, a Los Angeles medical practice, who wasn’t involved in today’s study.
“Once you have hearing loss, there’s a greater risk of that hearing loss progressing as you get older,” Slattery, a clinical professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said today in a telephone interview. “Here is a major study that demonstrates that teenagers are having hearing loss in a significant percent of children. It can happen and it does happen.”
Teens and parents need to be told that hearing loss from noise that occurs early in life isn’t reversible, he said.
Effect in School
Hearing loss may affect teenagers’ social development and education, said Gary Curhan, an author of the study, who is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“In an educational setting, even kids with slight hearing loss do not perform as well as those with normal hearing,” Curhan said in a telephone interview on Aug. 13. “It’s potentially preventable.”
Curhan said parents whose kids are doing poorly in school may want to get the children’s hearing tested because most people with a slight hearing loss don’t know a problem exists.
The researchers examined data from the 2005-2006 National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey and the one conducted from 1988 to 1994.
Boys at Risk
The study showed that males had a higher rate of hearing loss than females. The researchers also found that teens whose families were below the poverty line were more likely to have impaired hearing.
Among the signs of potential hearing loss are asking that things be repeated, having difficulty following directions, listening to the television at a loud volume, having problems with speech and language, and having trouble identifying sounds, said Denise Miller-Hansen, a pediatric audiologist at Children’s Mercy Hospitals & Clinics, in Kansas City, Missouri, who wasn’t involved in today’s study.
“The key to prevention is education and getting it out there in the public domain so that people know about hearing loss and the possibility of hearing loss in children,” Miller- Hansen said today in a telephone interview. “We also need studies to look at causative factors for the hearing loss.”
Curhan said it’s unclear how loud and how long teens need to listen to personal music players such as Apple Inc.’s iPod for hearing loss to occur. Parents can set a volume limit on their children’s iPods and lock them with a code.
In December, Apple won a federal appeals court ruling upholding dismissal of a lawsuit that claimed the iPod and headsets sold with it are defective and the company doesn’t adequately warn about the possibility of hearing loss.
The article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-17/one-in-five-u-s-adolescents-has-hearing-loss-researchers-find.html
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/
Many companies may be exposing their employees to unsafe noise levels and not even know it. If you are, OSHA requires you to develop and maintain a Hearing Conservation Program which includes annual industrial hearing testing of these employees. By answering just 16 questions below, you'll know whether or not your employees need industrial hearing testing.
OSHA requires that each worker in the Hearing Conservation Program must get an original audiogram, called a baseline, within six months of starting work in a risk area to determine how well he/she hears before they are exposed to noise by this employer. Thereafter, the employee must be industrial hearing tested every year.
Take this short quiz (provided by OSHA) to find out if you need a Hearing Conservation Program.
1. Have you conducted a noise survey to determine if your workplace has work processes or equipment that equal or exceed 85 dBA?
2. If your workplace has noise levels that equal or exceed 85dBA averaged over an eight-hour period, have you implemented a Hearing Conservation Program?
3. Are hearing protectors available at no cost to employees exposed to noise levels that equal or exceed 85 dBA average over an eight hour period?
4. Do employees use hearing protectors with noise-reduction ratings that reduce workplace noise levels below 85 dBA?
5. Are employees trained annually about the effects of noise on hearing, the purpose of hearing protectors and how to use them, and the purpose of audiometric testing if they are exposed to noise that equals or exceeds 85 dBA averaged over an eight-hour period?
6. Have employees exposed to noise work processes or equipment had personal exposure monitoring assessments to determine their eight-hour time-weighted averages?
7. If your workplace has noise levels that equal or exceed 90 dBA averaged over an eight-hour period, are you using engineering or administrative controls to reduce employee exposure below the 90 dBA limit?
8. Are employees permitted to observe exposure-monitoring evaluations?
9. Are employees notified about exposure-monitoring results that indicate they are exposed at or above 85 dBA averaged over an eight-hour period?
10. Are exposure-monitoring evaluations repeated when there are changes at your workplace that may affect noise levels?
11. Do you keep employees' exposure-monitoring records for at least two years?
12. Are baseline and annual audiometric tests given at no cost to employees who are exposed to noise that equals or exceeds 85 dBA averaged over an eight-hour period?
13. Do you ensure that employees are not exposed to workplace noise for at least 14 hours before their audiometric tests?
14. Does a licensed or certified technician, audiologist, otolaryngologist, or physician conduct employees' audiometric tests?
15. Do you keep employees' audiometric test records for the duration of their employment?
16. Is there a copy of the noise standard that applies to your workplace available for employees to review?
Did you know that ALL of your answers should be "yes?" It's true!
If you answered no to any of these questions, or aren't sure, a simple sound level survey or individual dosimeter survey will help you determine if your employees are being exposed to unsafe noise levels and whether or not your company is required to develop and maintain a Hearing Conservation Program.
For more information, for assistance on any of the above 16 points, or to get a sound level survey to determine if your workplace has work processes or equipment that equal or exceed 85, go to www.workplaceintegra.com or contact via info@wpintegra.com
How hearing protection changes speech understanding and what to do about it.
Source: Industrial Hygiene News: http://www.rimbach.com/
Supervisor: Hey – you aren’t wearing your earplugs. That’s the third time this week!
Employee: I know I know! But I just can’t hear Joe’s instructions! I had to take them out. It’s not my fault!
This classic interaction is played out everyday in the workplace. Employees, who struggle to hear, may remove their hearing protection temporarily and some may simply stop wearing hearing protection altogether. This response is likely to create a much bigger permanent communication problem: noise-induced hearing loss. In the meantime, worker complaints like this one may cause an employer to wonder:
“Is it reasonable to expect my employees to hear the sounds they need while they are wearing hearing protection?” After all, it does seem a bit counterintuitive to block the same sounds the wearer is trying to hear.
Understanding how hearing protection changes sound is an important step towards ensuring employees are appropriately protected from hazardous sound without impeding their safety or productivity. Hearing protection, worn properly, will decrease all sounds: both unwanted sounds (noise) and useful sounds such as speech and warning signals. With some attention, most communication issues can be resolved or at least improved. This article explains how hearing protection affects auditory communication and suggests approaches to overcoming difficult listening situations.
The ears on overdrive
The human hearing mechanism works most effectively at low and moderate sound levels. High sound levels, 85 dBA or greater, overdrive the auditory system and introduce distortion within the ear itself. Like the poor fidelity of overdriven speakers, overdriven ears cause signals to lose clarity, making speech difficult to understand. Wearing earplugs or earmuffs in a high noise environment is comparable to wearing sunglasses in intense sunlight. The filtering decreases the intensity and glare of bright sunlight to permit a more relaxed viewing experience. Like the photos in Figure 1, a day at the beach without sunglasses is harsh, causes squinting and perhaps a headache and early fatigue. But viewed through sunglasses the scenery is much more pleasant, the details easier to discern and the shadows and colors apparent. Likewise, hearing protection reduces the overall sound input that reaches the inner ear, allowing the auditory system to work more comfortably and effectively.
It takes two to communicate
Wearing hearing protection causes other changes. First, is a phenomenon called the occlusion effect. When the ears are blocked or plugged, external sounds become softer, but internal sounds seem louder and “echo” inside the head. People describe their own voice as “booming” or like “talking in a barrel.” As a result, when wearing hearing protection, employees are likely to speak more softly. Secondly, people tend to talk more quickly when wearing hearing protectors in noisy environments. The combination of talking more softly and quickly has obvious implications; the listener has more difficulty understanding the speaker. In the opening scenario, the employee removed his hearing protection to hear better, however, the speaker is still talking less loudly and too quickly, and the listener is hearing the factory sound at high levels. The problem isn’t solved by removing hearing protection and will only become worse over time as hearing is damaged.
Rest of the article: http://www.rimbach.com/scripts/Article/IHN/Number.idc?Number=237
Source: 
web site; www.cdc.gov
Noise Meter
Play around with the Noise Meter and hear the different sounds and sound intensities of everyday objects. The red bar below shows how long it takes before a particular sound level becomes dangerous to the human ear. For example, a chain saw has a sound intensity of about 110 dB. Without proper hearing protection, running a chain saw for only 2 minutes can become dangerous to the human ear!
Here is the meter: You can use it on this site, or download to your computer.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/abouthlp/noisemeter_flash/soundMeter_flash.html
Workplace INTEGRA is attending the 2010 Safety & Health Congress, August 1-4 in Murfreesboro, TN.
Workplace INTEGRA will feature Workplace Applications Software and INTEGRAfit at the 2010 Congress. The Tennessee Safety & Health Congress is being held at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Murfreesboro, TN.
Workplace Applications® occupational health and safety software provides companies an enterprise-wide solution to their workplace health and safety data management needs. The SQL server-based system is scalable from a single-user workstation up to hundreds of users on a corporate WAN. The Demographics driven software features the Audiometrics module for tracking a Hearing Conservation Program and the Health & Safety module for logging injuries, illnesses, OSHA logs, and much more.
A few of the Software Features:
- Extensive reporting and graphing capabilities
- Current users have said, "user friendly" and "easy to use"
- Use of Crystal Reports allows for the exporting and/or emailing of most reports in a variety of formats (.pdf, .xls, .doc) to managers and supervisors, or clients
- Use of data input "wizards" that guide you through the software
- All modules integrate with the Health and Safety module
- Medical spell checking in all of the modules
- Uses Microsoft's SQL Server database technology
- Can be installed on a standalone workstation or across a company-wide WAN connected to a corporate SQL Server database
- Workplace Applications is fully integrated with our hearing conservation, pulmonary consulting, and review programs
- Information can optionally be sent electronically to Workplace INTEGRA for professional review
Other modules include, INTEGRAfit, FMLA Tracking +, Safety, Pulmonary, and Surveillance. Here is a free access demonstration of Workplace Applications software.
In America today, many workers are receiving less than 5 decibels of protection from their earplugs. Why? Because achieving adequate hearing protection is not simple. It depends upon:
Selecting an earplug that fits each employee’s ears
Training that employee to properly use earplugs
Consistent proper use of those earplugs by the employee
INTEGRAfit is a hardware/software solution for the actual measurement of earplug noise reduction as the worker actually wears his/her earplugs.
No more reliance upon NRR ratings which can be grossly inaccurate for any person
No more guessing – measure it
Very powerful tool to train workers how to correctly insert earplugs
Takes less than 3 minutes
The best leading indicator of HCP effectiveness
Works with any earplug on the market
Workplace INTEGRA is holding a drawing for a gasoline card for the attendees of the TN Safety & Health Congress.
Stop by booth number 621 at the Tennessee Safety & Health Congress or call for more information; 888.WPI.0001.
One of the many courses offered at the Summer Institute held at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott in Norfolk, VA is the CAOHC Initial and Refresher Training.
“We still have room for some additional student’s in these classes,” stated Kathleen Buckheit, the NC Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center Director.
The CAOHC Initial and Refresher courses at the Summer Institute are taught by Workplace INTEGRA’s newly appointed Director of Audiology, Dr. George R. Cook.
The CAOHC Initial Course description is as follows:
Initial course: This course is approved by the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC) and is designed to help participants perform valid audiograms and develop hearing conservation programs according to OSHA 29 CRF 1910.95. Students who complete this 2 ½ day course are eligible to apply to CAOHC for certification as an Occupational Hearing Conservationist. The CAOHC application fee is included in the registration fee and is forwarded onto CAOHC upon successful completion of the course.
Course Faculty:
George R. Cook, AuD, CCCA, Workplace INTEGRA, Greensboro, NC
Content:
Anatomy and physiology of the ear; Federal and state regulations relating to noise exposure; audiometric testing techniques; employee education, hearing protection, audiogram review, and follow-up; recordkeeping.
Meeting Times:
Course begins Monday, July 26 at 8:00 am and ends Wednesday, July 28 at 11:00 am.
Credit:
3.0 ABIH (Category 4)
1.85 CEUs
Tuition for the Initial course is $575.
The July 27th CAOHC Refresher Course description is as follows:
Refresher course: This one-day course is designed to satisfy the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC) requirements for recertification. The certified Occupational Hearing Conservationist must complete an eight-hour refresher course within five years of the initial 20-hour course or previous eight-hour refresher course in order to be eligible for recertification.
Course Faculty:
George R. Cook, AuD, CCCA, Workplace INTEGRA, Greensboro, NC
Content:
Federal and state regulations, including hearing conservation programs and worker's compensation; review of audiometric techniques; audiogram review, referral, and employee follow-up; recordkeeping; role of the occupational hearing conservationist.
Meeting Times:
Course begins Tuesday, July 27 at 8:00 am and ends at 5:00 pm.
Credit:
1 ABIH (Category 4)
0.8 CEUs
Tuition for this Refresher course is $350.
To register online, click here.
You may also submit your registration via osherc@unc.edu. Please be sure to include the course title and date.
For further information on this course, contact the NC ERC office at osherc@unc.edu or call 919-962-2101 or toll free at 888-235-3320.
If you don’t know when your CAOHC certification is up, check here.
Source: Workplace INTEGRA Associate
The Board of Directors for Workplace INTEGRA, Inc. of Greensboro, NC appointed David J. Pinchot as President on July 7, 2010. Mr. Pinchot has served as Vice President of Workplace INTEGRA, Inc. since the company was founded in 2000.
Mr. Pinchot has been developing Database Management System solutions for business and manufacturing for over 25 years. As an early advocate of PC based data collection and analysis systems, his experience parallels the birth of the personal computer in manufacturing environments up to today’s complicated WAN/LAN, Intranet/Internet environments.
Mr. Pinchot worked as an Engineer-Systems Designer for both Duracell USA and Rayovac. In that capacity, he was involved in creating plant wide database systems encompassing all areas of manufacturing from incoming raw materials to finished product quality. He has also been heavily involved in statistical applications relating to product reliability and quality.
In 1997, Mr. Pinchot brought his talents to U.S. HealthWorks where he served as Manager of Information Services. In that capacity he oversaw the development and support of their Occupational Health & Safety software application.
Applying his many years of programming experience, Mr. Pinchot has developed the Workplace Applications Software suite, which includes modules for Hearing Conservation, Pulmonary Function Surveillance, Safety, FMLA, and Health & Safety.
One of Mr. Pinchot’s first moves was to bring aboard Dr. George R. Cook as Director of Audiology. Dr. Cook has over 30 years of experience in the occupational health setting. As a founder, major principal and vice president of hearing conservation for Oto-Data, Inc. and vice president of U.S. HealthWorks, he created initial service format and facilitated departmental growth to major players in the service market. He also served as Senior Occupational Audiologist consultant visiting plants to establish or evaluate hearing conservation programs. Dr. Cook is also a certified CAOHC course instructor.
Mr. Pinchot and Dr. Cook have worked together for a number of years and they are both excited about working together again. These management moves maintain Workplace INTEGRA’s position as a premier hearing conservation and health data management company who has clients from coast to coast, including Hawaii and American Samoa.
About Workplace INTEGRA, Inc: Workplace INTEGRA is a health & safety, data management company that offers consulting services and an in-house programmed and supported software product called Workplace Applications. Workplace Applications Software is available to companies to help with tracking critical health & safety data. This data can include hearing and pulmonary tests which can be brought over automatically from an audiometer or spirometer. Detailing any injury, illness, or health visit that a company needs to track, such as a fall or slip, is an easy task to complete with Workplace Applications Software. The "Nurses Notes" area is very popular with users, allowing a place to detail incidents. OSHA Logs and numerous reports round out the feature rich software. Workplace INTEGRA offers consulting services with its staff of occupational audiologists and also teaches a number of CAOHC Courses.
Call 888 WPI 0001 with questions or visit: Workplace INTEGRA.
Source: Workplace INTEGRA Associate
What does OSHA require regarding audiometer calibration?
The audiometer must function within certain tolerance limits in order to be considered as operating within the specifications set forth by OSHA.
Annually, OSHA requires the audiometer undergo an "acoustic calibration" whereby three functions are measured: dB output levels, frequency characteristics, and volume control linearity. In other words, the acoustic calibration answers the following questions:
- 1) If the audiometer's volume control says X dB HL (60 dB HL, for instance) is it really producing an X dB HL signal?
- 2) Does the volume control work appropriately?
- 3) If the frequency control is set to a particular frequency (1000 Hz, for instance), is the audiometer actually producing that frequency?
Every two years, OSHA requires an "exhaustive calibration" which is an acoustic calibration plus a few more functions. As a practical matter, few perform acoustic calibrations as it requires not much more time to conduct an exhaustive calibration.
Where are acoustic and exhaustive audiometer calibrations conducted?
One method is to carefully box the audiometer and headphones, then ship to the manufacturer. The major advantage of this method is that faulty internal components can be identified during the calibration and repaired using the manufacturer's parts.
A second method is similar to the first: ship to a provider of calibration services. If issues are uncovered that cannot be resolved (a rarity), the audiometer can be sent to the manufacturer.
A third method is to have a technician come on-site to perform the calibration. There are two major advantages to this method. First, no lost testing time associated with shipping the audiometer back and forth. Second, the calibration is conducted with all of the connecting cables in place as one would ordinarily conduct a hearing test. If the connecting cables or sound booth jack panel are causing issues, this can be determined during the calibration process and often resolved at the time.
What about daily listening checks?
Just because the audiometer passed an acoustic or exhaustive calibration check seven months ago does not mean that is functioning properly today. It is critical to conduct a daily listening check on the audiometer. This is not difficult to do, requires only a few minutes, and need only be done on a day that audiometric testing will take place. A daily listening check has two components:
Biological calibration check: most with any experience doing industrial audiometric testing are familiar with bio-acoustic simulators often known as "Oscars" or "Bio-Bettys" or "Monitors". One places the headphones on the simulator, gives the simulator a hearing test, and compares the result at each frequency to its baseline. If the output is within ± 10 dB at each frequency for each headphone (left and right), then the audiometer is considered to be "in calibration."
Self-Listening check: This can be performed either before or after the biological calibration check. This is done because the bio-acoustic simulators do not know the difference between a nice, clean pure tone and various noises that can interfere with an actual test. There is no need to do a full hearing test on yourself, just put the headphones on and check a few things. Do the tones sound like tones? Wiggle the cords, do you hear static? Are the tones fluctuating in loudness? Press the tone button, do you hear a loud click before hearing the tone? Increase and decrease the volume, does the loudness increase and decrease? When presenting the tone to the right ear, do you also hear it in the left ear (you should not)? Does the patient response button work? Are the various cables and cords plugged in as they should be?
If problems are suspected, call your service provider. Most of these issues can be addressed over the phone, but some issues will require professional repair.
I have an extra pair of headphones. Can I use them?
Do not swap the headphones! Headphones have different response characteristics. Because the audiometer is calibrated for a specific pair of headphones, swapping the headphones can produce inaccurate hearing tests. A better idea is to contact your service provider apprising them of the problem. They will assist you to determine the best course of action.
Are there other things I can do to take care of the audiometer?
Yes, indeed. The following are recommended:
- Plug the audiometer into a surge protector, not directly into a wall outlet
- Dust is the enemy! Cover the audiometer when not in use to keep dust out
- Organize the cords so that they are not crimped, or dragging on the floor where they could be accidentally damaged during cleaning and vacuuming
- Keep liquids away from the audiometer
- Keep a spare patient response button - this is usually the part that breaks first
- Use disposable earphone cushions for infection control to make the cushions last longer
- Use contact cleaner to periodically clean the jacks and the jack panel. Many a problem has been solved with this simple cleaning
- Keep spare batteries nearby for the bio-acoustic simulator. A leading cause of biological calibration values exceeding ± 10 dB is a weak battery.
How often does OSHA require a sound booth to be calibrated?
OSHA requires that the audiometric testing room - which can be an open room - be no louder than the maximum permissible ambient noise levels specified in the OSHA Noise Standard. These noise levels are:
|
500Hz
|
1000Hz
|
2000Hz
|
4000Hz
|
8000Hz
|
|
40 dB SPL
|
40 dB SPL
|
47 dB SPL
|
57 dB SPL
|
62 dB SPL
|
As a practical matter, it is not difficult to meet these numbers in a reasonably quiet and distraction-free room. However, there is near universal agreement among professional hearing conservationists that these maximum permissible noise levels are too high, particularly for persons with hearing loss who often have difficulty with background noise interfering with audiometric testing. Voluntary compliance with the more stringent criteria set forth in ANSI S3.1-1999 is recommended when feasible. These noise levels are:
|
125Hz
|
250Hz
|
500Hz
|
1000Hz
|
2000Hz
|
4000Hz
|
8000Hz
|
|
39 dB SPL
|
25 dB SPL
|
21 dB SPL
|
26 dB SPL
|
34 dB SPL
|
37 dB SPL
|
37 dB SPL
|
So back to the question: how often does OSHA require measurement of background noise levels? The answer is once, then again if something changes.
So what might change?
Relocating the booth, for one, but there is room for judgment. If the booth is moved from one corner of the room to another, there may be no need to re-measure the background noise levels unless there is reason to believe that the noise levels are higher in the new location.
Practically, what will change the most over time is the booth itself - it will get older. This means that the seal around the door will eventually degrade letting more sound into the booth. More importantly, the ventilation fan will grow noisier over time and eventually need replacement. The fans are not expensive, but can be tricky to replace. Please have your local maintenance person give it a try as a non-ventilated sound booth can become uncomfortably warm and "stuffy" in short order. A claustrophobic person will certainly be uncomfortable in a non-ventilated sound booth.
Bear in mind that ventilation is a major noise source when testing in an open room. Be sure to test the background noise levels with the air conditioning/heating system on and off. Background noise levels may be too high when the AC or heat is running.
For these reasons, it is recommended that background noise levels be measured at least every two years. The technician providing an on-site audiometer calibration will have the necessary equipment (a rather expensive sound level meter with an octave-band analyzer) to conduct this background noise measurement.
I use a mobile service provider for annual audiometric testing. Are they required to check background noise levels?
OSHA requires that all audiometric testing done for the purpose of compliance with the OSHA Noise Standard must be conducted in an environment where background noise levels do not exceed the maximum permissible (see the first chart above). Mobile service providers must verify that background noise levels do not exceed the maximum, and must do this at each location where testing takes place.
Mobile services
What about documentation?
Important! Acoustic and exhaustive audiometer calibrations must be documented on a form listing the specific functions tested and the results. Similarly, background noise levels in the audiometric testing room must be documented as well. This documentation is required by the OSHA Noise Standard and can be important in other legal proceedings (Workers' Compensation, for instance).
The daily biological calibration and self-listening checks should also be documented. This provides evidence that the audiometer functioned appropriately the day of the test.
How long should you keep these documents? The recommended time is 30 years plus the employees time at the company- as these documents could be used in Workers' Compensation cases involving long-term employees.
Can I do my own audiometer calibrations and testing room background noise level checks?
Certainly, you can and should do the daily listening checks described above.
There are no regulatory requirements stipulating who can and cannot do acoustic/exhaustive audiometer calibrations and background noise level checks in the audiometric testing room. Anyone can do it with proper training and the right equipment. The real issue is the cost of the equipment. An audiometer calibration kit can easily run five times the cost of the audiometer. Practically, only manufacturers and service providers doing many calibrations annually find it affordable to spend this much money on audiometer calibration equipment and to pay the cost associated with having that equipment calibrated annually.
Does Workplace INTEGRA provide these services?
Yes. On-site exhaustive audiometer calibration checks and audiometric testing room background noise level checks are provided by:
- A licensed and certified Occupational Audiologist during the annual Audiologist Plant Visit, if this service is contracted
- A Technician for clients not receiving an Audiologist Plant Visit. For on-site services, see our website for our geographic service area: calibration services
Alternatively, audiometers can be shipped to our offices in Greensboro, NC or Indianapolis, IN for an exhaustive calibration check. Request this service
Workplace INTEGRA can also provide replacement components such as patient response buttons, various cables, and earphone cushions. Audiometric testing equipment
Source: hearing-aidsonline.com
H
earing loss is prevalent in modern societies as a result of the combined effects of noise, aging, disease, and heredity. Hearing loss is the number one disability in the world; approximately 28 million Americans suffer some type of hearing loss. In addition, 15 of every 1000 people under the age of 18 have a hearing loss, and nearly 90% of people over age 80 have a hearing impairment. The incidence of hearing loss is greater in men, than women. The sad part is, that hearing loss is the most preventable disability in the world.
Hearing is a complicated process involving both the sensitivity of the ear, as well as the ability to understand, and interpret the speech. When we hear sounds, we really are interpreting patterns of air molecules in the form of waves. The ear is able to pick up these waves, and convert them into electrical signals that are sent to the brain. In the brain, these signals are deciphered into meaningful information, such as language or music with qualities like volume and pitch. We can characterize sounds in terms of their frequency (or pitch) and intensity (or loudness).
An individual with hearing in the normal range can hear sounds that have frequencies between 20 and 20,000 Hertz. Speech includes a combination of low and high frequency sounds; vowels have lower frequencies and are easier to hear. Consonants, on the other hand have higher frequencies, and are harder to hear. Since consonants express most of the meaning of what we say, someone who cannot hear high frequency sounds will have a hard time understanding speech.
Intensity, or loudness, is measured in decibels. A normal hearing range usually ranges from 0 to 140 dB. A whisper is around 30 dB, and normal conversations are usually 45 to 50 dB. Sounds that are louder than 90 dB can be uncomfortable to hear. A loud concert might be as loud as 110 dB. Extreme sounds that are 120 dB or louder can be quite painful and can result in temporary or permanent hearing loss.
Rest of the story: http://www.hearing-aidsonline.com/