Hearing can be seriously and adversely affected by prolonged exposure to loud sound. Working in the air duct cleaning business has the potential to cause serious hearing damage if proper hearing protection is not provided and properly used.
Make it a common practice to check regularly to make sure that proper hearing protection is readily available at the office and in every vehicle in your fleet.
How much noise is too much? “OSHA sets legal limits on noise exposure in the workplace. These limits are based on a worker’s time weighted average over an 8 hour day. With noise, OSHA’s permissible exposure limit (PEL) is 90 dBA for all workers for an 8 hour day. The OSHA standard uses a 5 dBA exchange rate. This means that when the noise level is increased by 5 dBA, the amount of time a person can be exposed to a certain noise level to receive the same dose is cut in half.” (Source: OSHA.gov)
Of course, the only way to determine how much noise your employees are exposed to is to use a decibel meter. These meters are readily available, inexpensive to purchase, and easy to operate. You may want to have an annual safety meeting in which you take a decibel reading near your truck or portable equipment to show your crews how loud they are and how important it is to wear their hearing protection.
Always have hearing protection available, and insist that it is used.
For any further questions feel free to contact the team at:
American Caddy Vac
1-800-879-5382
info@caddyvac.com
