Hearing loss and protection in the workplace

What should also be considered are less visible hazards. In the UK, there are 11 million people – that’s one in six of us – living with hearing loss and deafness.

Hearing loss can lead to isolation and a number of other mental health conditions, and can affect people feel in the workplace. In research Action on Hearing Loss published in 2014, two-fifths of people surveyed who had retired early said it was related to their hearing loss.

The fact that we’re living in an increasingly ageing population and that employees will be retiring later should be something on employers’ minds. 41.7% of over-50-year-olds have some kind of hearing loss, and with many employees now likely to work up until their 70s, hearing protection and safe noise levels should be taken seriously.

These are the top five things you need to know about hearing loss and protection in the workplace:

1. Apart from ageing, noise-induced hearing loss is its most common cause. It occurs after prolonged exposure to excessive levels of noise, for example in noisy workplaces or while listening to loud music.

2. The World Health Organisation identified excessive noise as the major, avoidable cause of hearing loss worldwide. It also found that 16% of hearing loss is caused by exposure to excessive noise in work. People working in construction, the military, manufacturing or food processing are the most at risk.

3. While usually hearing will recover in around two days – known as the ‘temporary threshold shift’ – this will vary depending on how loud the sound is and how long you were exposed. Repeated exposure to loud noise can cause damage to the cochlea and the hearing nerve, which can result in permanent hearing loss and tinnitus. There are cases where the effect of noise-induced hearing loss are not evident until years after initial exposure.

4. Under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, employers are obliged to assess and take steps to reduce risk to employees if daily or weekly noise exposures average 80dB or peak at 135dB. Employees exposed to this level of noise or above, employers must make personal hearing protectors available, which must be worn if daily or weekly noise levels are this high. No employee should be exposed to daily to weekly noise exposures averaging 87dB or peaks of 140dB, even if they are provided with hearing protectors.

5. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which is responsible for enforcing these regulations across England, Wales and Scotland, is reviewing the feasibility of Otoacoustic Emissions Testing (OAE). This is a way of detecting damaging levels of noise in the workplace by measuring the acoustic response the cochlear produces to an external sound. This could mean that the damaging effects of noise exposure on employees could be identified early so steps can be taken to prevent further damage.

Protecting employees from noise-induced hearing loss is important: hearing loss can diminish people’s quality of life and mental health, and – without proper support – can lead to skilled workers retiring early. Ensuring that your business provides hearing protection when needed is therefore essential – not only for being compliant with regulations, but also for the long-term retention of skilled employees.