Noise Exposure

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Noise Exposure 
Exposure to hazardous noise at the workplace or at home can lead to permanent hearing loss or Tinnitus (ringing in the ear). 
This damage can result from short exposure to loud noises, or prolonged exposure to lower levels of noise. 

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 22 million workers around the world are exposed to potentially damaging noise at work each year. 
Here at Kenya railways I'm sure we're part of this statistic because our locomotives produce a lot of noise especially when they are being load tested. Some of our cranes also produce potentially damaging noise. (Front shop crane-)

Whether you work in a workshop, sports venue, an entertainment establishment, or operate a jackhammer—hearing loss is preventable.

Damage to hearing can occur if we are typically exposed to noise levels above 85 decibels over a period of 8 hours, or one-off burst of noise of 140 decibels or more.  

Typical decibels ratings for some common sounds:

Normal conversation- 60 decibels
Heavy city traffic- 85 decibels
Motorcycles- 95 decibels
Circular saws- 100-105 decibels
Listening to music with headphones at maximum volume- 105 decibels
Sirens- 120 decibels
Firearms- 150 decibels
Locomotives- 70-73 decibels at idling, 93-115 decibels at maximum power.
Front shop crane- 90 decibels 
Washing machine- 93 decibels 

There are several types of instruments available to measure the noise levels in a workspace. These include sound level meters, noise dosimeters, octave band analyzers, and apps for phones.

Noise is likely a problem in your workplace if you:

1. Hear ringing or humming sound in your ears when you leave work.
2. Have to shout to be heard by a coworker an arm's length away.
3. Experience temporary hearing loss when leaving work.

Health Effects
Exposure to loud noise can damage and kill hearing receptor cells in our inner ear. The result is permanent hearing loss that cannot be corrected through surgery or with medicine.

Remember noise-induced hearing loss limits your ability to hear high frequency sounds and understand speech, seriously impairing communication. Hearing aids may help, but they do not restore your hearing to normal.

How can we prevent hearing damage?
1. The best way to prevent hearing loss is to eliminate the damaging noise or distance yourself from the noise. 
2. If this isn’t possible, the next best thing is to use engineering controls such as sound barriers, enclosures and noise dampening measures.
3. Training on hearing protection                 Placing warning signage on noisy machines.     -Job rotation to reduce the time working in noisy environments. 

All these may help us to prevent hearing damage but the last line of defence is wearing hearing protection (muffs, ear plugs, canal caps or noise-canceling headsets). 


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