Bad Assumptions About Hearing Protection #1: Hearing Protection is Self-Explanatory

Assuming that proper use of hearing protection is fairly intuitive (“just put it in your ear...”), many safety managers provide little or no training in how to use protection properly. Or they generously assume that workers will read the manufacturer’s instructions on the packaging.

A comprehensive study of Hearing Conservation Programs in United Kingdom revealed that when Hearing Conservation training had been provided by posters or leaflets, less than half of the “trained” workers could recall the content.*

But repeated studies show that the most effective use of hearing protection comes after one-on-one training. Large group training in hearing protection seems to have little effect in proper usage; only individual training can be linked to high attenuation results.

• For proper fit of ear plugs, the fitting steps are not complicated. A simple three-step process conveys the essence of a proper fit for foam ear plugs: Roll, Pull, and Hold. Roll down a foam ear plug into a small crease-free cylinder, pull the outer ear up and back to open the ear canal, insert the ear plug and hold in place while it expands.
• For proper fit of ear muffs, move aside any thick hair, and seat the ear muff so that it encloses the entire ear. Avoid safety glasses with thick temple bars at the frames. For safety eyewear or prescription glasses with a thin frame (a width of 2mm or less at the temples where the ear muff cushion meets the frame), eyewear causes no significant decline in attenuation. But safety eyewear with wider frames causes noticeable gaps in the cushion seal, resulting in a loss of attenuation of 5-10 dB in some cases.

For additional information, see Sound Source: Earmuffs & Safety Eyewear, a technical bulletin posted on HearForever.org.

User-friendly instructions showing how to properly wear and care for hearing protectors are found in free training materials available from HearForever.org. Ear plug and ear muff instruction posters (in multiple languages!) and our PowerPoint presentation can be useful supplements in your own Hearing Conservation training.

 

Next: Bad Assumption #2: Any Ear Plug in the Ear is Blocking Some Noise