Noise Hazard

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Noise Hazard
Noise Hazard
What is Noise Hazard?
❑ Anything or any activity that has the potential to cause hearing loss
and deafness (lacking the power of hearing) is a Noise Hazard.
❑ Noise hazard exists if a person is exposed to an equivalent sound
pressure level of more than 85dB (A) over an 8-hour period workday.
Noise Hazard
Q. What is noise and how does it cause hearing loss?
❑ Noise is any unwanted sound that doesn’t happen in a natural
environment. Noise can include sounds coming from machinery, highway
traffic, and industrial, commercial and residential sources.
Noise Hazard
❑ Noise is caused by pressure changes in the air created by vibrations,
which are transferred to the ear by sound waves. The sound waves are
then converted to electrical signals by delicate hair cells called cilia,
found in the inner ear, or cochlea. These signals are transmitted to the
brain and interpreted as sound.
Noise Hazard
❑ Exposure to loud noise breaks down the cilia and large groups of the cells
often get torn away. When the cilia become damaged they do not grow
back and this can cause permanent hearing loss.
❑ You can prevent noise-induced hearing loss by eliminating or reducing

hazardous noise exposure in your workplace.
Noise Hazard
Q. What are the causes of hearing loss due to noise hazard?
❑ Work-related noise-induced hearing loss happens when a person has
long-term exposure to hazardous noise in the workplace. It happens over
time, is rarely painful, and takes years of continuous exposure to
develop. Because of this, people often don’t realize they are being
affected by noise-induced hearing loss until after the damage has
become permanent. As a result, hearing loss is usually noticed later on,
often after retirement.
❑ The higher the noise level exposures, the sooner hearing loss develops.
People can also experience greater hearing loss if high noise levels are
combined with other workplace hazards, such as exposure to chemicals
(e.g., styrene and toluene), heavy metals (e.g., mercury, lead and
arsenic), vibration and extreme heat.
Noise Hazard
Main sources of noise at work
Noise is a common hazard and is present to some extent in almost all
workplaces. It is the most common health hazard in industries such as
entertainment, manufacturing, agriculture, ship-building, textiles, mining
and quarrying, food and drink, woodworking, metal working and
construction. Some common sources of noise are:
o loud music
o the use of heavy machinery
o workplace transport
o electrical tools such as circular saws and cutter heads
o production lines
o pneumatic tools such as drills, grinders and riveting guns
o electrical motors and generators
o engineering processes such as metal fabrication
o plant rooms where ventilation equipment has to run continuously.
Noise Hazard
Q. How do I recognize hearing loss? / General signs of hearing loss
Noise-induced hearing loss develops slowly over time and is hard to
recognize in the early stages. The Canadian Hearing Society created a list of
the common signs of hearing loss. They can include:
1. ringing in the ear/ears (known as tinnitus)
2. speaking louder than necessary,
3. constantly asking for words to be repeated,
4. misunderstanding conversations, especially in noisy situations,
5. inability to hear soft and high-pitched sounds
6. muffling of speech and other sounds
7. trouble understanding conversations at a distance or in a crowd
8. listening music or watching television with the volume higher than usual
9. having difficulty hearing the telephone or doorbell
10. finding it difficult to tell which direction noise is coming from
11. regularly feeling tired or stressed, from having to concentrate while
listening
Noise Hazard
Q. How do I recognize hearing loss? / General signs of hearing loss
12. answering or responding inappropriately in conversations

13. reading lips or more intently watching people’s faces during
conversations
14. feeling annoyed at other people because of not understanding them
15. feeling nervous about trying to hear and understand others.
Noise Hazard
Q. What are the effects of noise hazard?
Exposure to high levels of noise can cause permanent hearing loss. Short
term exposure to loud noise can also cause a temporary change in hearing
(your ears may feel stuffed up) or a ringing in your ears (tinnitus). These
short-term problems may go away within a few minutes or hours after
leaving the noise. However, repeated exposures to loud noise can lead to
permanent tinnitus and/or hearing loss.
Noise Hazard
Loud noise can create:

❑ hearing loss
❑ annoy and interfere with speech
❑ interfere with concentration and thought processes
❑ disturb sleep
❑ cause fatigue and aggression
❑ reduce immune response
❑ reduce productivity
❑ physical and psychological stress,
❑ interfere with communication and concentration, and
❑ contribute to workplace accidents and injuries by making it difficult to
hear warning signals.
Noise Hazard
Loud noise can create:

❑ serious health effects, including:
o raised blood pressure
o accelerated heart rate
o stress, which can lead to irritability and headaches
o hypertension increasing the risk of strokes and heart attacks
o reduced white blood cell count and immune response
o gastric ulcers.
Noise Hazard
Occupational noise burden
Excessive noise is a global occupational health hazard with

considerable social and physiological impacts. Exposure to loud noise
from all sources accounts for about 20 per cent of adult-onset hearing
loss, while 16 per cent of the disabling hearing loss in adults is
attributed to occupational noise. Noise-induced hearing loss is
considered the 15th most serious health problem in the world.
Worldwide affects approximately 250 million workers
o UAE 4,500 cases of noise-induced hearing loss (2008)
o USA more than 30 million workers exposed to hazardous noise
o Sub-Saharan Africa 1.06 million workers affected
o Europe 28 per cent of workforce exposed to high-level occupational noise
o Belgium 25 per cent
o Czech Republic 55.5 per cent
o Denmark 30 per cent
o Germany 20 per cent
o Netherlands 17 per cent
Noise Hazard
Why is prevention important?
1. Almost all work-related hearing loss is permanent, and it can have a profound
impact on quality of life.
2. As hearing loss worsens, hearing and understanding others becomes
increasingly difficult, which can lead to isolation.
3. Hearing loss is associated with cognitive (mental) decline and heart problems,
such as high blood pressure and heart disease.
4. Hearing loss is also strongly associated with depression.
5. Hearing loss can lead to loss of enjoyment, when all the sounds we want to hear
(e.g., music, voice of loved one) become muted and lack quality.
6. Ringing in the ears (tinnitus), which often occurs along with hearing loss, can
disrupt sleep and concentration and is associated with both depression and
anxiety.
7. Hearing loss can impact safety at home and on the job.
8. Income is typically lower among workers with hearing loss, than among workers
with normal hearing.
Fortunately, with today’s hearing loss prevention strategies and technologies, work-
related hearing loss can be nearly always prevented.
Noise Hazard
Q. Describe the ways to control and reduce worker exposure to noise where
exposure has been shown to be excessive.
There are several ways to control and reduce worker exposure to noise
where exposure has been shown to be excessive:
1. Engineering Controls
Engineering controls involve modifying or replacing equipment, or
making related physical changes at the noise source or along the
transmission path to reduce the noise level at a worker's ear.
Examples include:
o Choose low noise tools and machinery.
o Maintain and lubricate machinery and equipment.
o Place a barrier between the noise source and employee.
o Enclose or isolate the noise source.
o Use a sound-reducing enclosure that fully encloses the machine(s)
o Use sound-absorbing material on floors, ceiling and/or walls to
reduce the sound level due to reverberation
Noise Hazard
2. Administrative Controls
Administrative controls should be used when it is not possible to reduce
noise exposure through engineering noise control measures.
Administrative controls are changes in the workplace or schedule that
reduce or eliminate a worker's exposure to noise. Examples include:
Examples include:
o Purchasing new plant and equipment that produce less noise.
o Maintaining machines and equipment in good condition to reduce
noise, including the addition of noise mufflers, vibration isolators, or
duct silencers
o Using conveyor belts rather than rollers
o Operating noisy machines during shifts when fewer people are
exposed.
Noise Hazard
2. Administrative Controls
Examples include:
o Limiting the amount of time a person spends at a noise source.
o Providing quiet areas where workers can gain relief from hazardous
noise sources.
o Controlling noise exposure through distance. For every doubling of
the distance between the source of noise and the worker, the noise
is decreased by 6 dB.
Noise Hazard
3. Personal hearing protectors

A personal hearing protector can be worn to cover the ear and ear canal
entrance, or inserted in the ears of a person to protect their hearing.
Personal hearing protectors should be used when noise levels cannot be
reduced by other control measures.
Staff at workplaces should be:
o supplied with personal hearing protectors of correct rating and
suitable for the work conditions
o instructed in their correct use
o instructed to wear them when exposed to noise
o monitored to ensure they wear hearing protection.
o Personal hearing protectors should not be used as a substitute for
engineering or administrative noise control measures.

Noise Hazard

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L

❑ You can prevent noise-induced hearing loss by eliminating or reducing

12. answering or responding inappropriately in conversations

Loud noise can create:

Loud noise can create:

Excessive noise is a global occupational health hazard with

3. Personal hearing protectors

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