Issues Regarding Hearing Protection Device Use in Manufacturing and Mining

Details

• Personal Author:
  Morata, Thais C.
• Description:
  This study examines reasons offered by workers for not consistently using hearing protectors. Study groups were comprised of: 1. 124 workers exposed to various levels of noise in a manufacturing company, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Data on work history, psychosocial aspects of the worker's job, medical history, present health, stress, occupational and non-occupational exposures to noise or chemicals and lifestyle factors were collected through interviews. The participants had their hearing and noise exposure assessed. Sixty-four percent of the workers indicated that they wore hearing protectors, but only 20 percent of that subgroup stated that they wore the devices all the time when noise-exposed. 2. 44 workers and supervisors from the manufacturing and mining sectors in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Participants were interviewed or took part in focus groups discussions on a variety of hearing conservation topics, including problems with the use of HPDs. The variables significantly associated with a worker's decision not to wear hearing protectors consistently included interference with communication, interference with job performance, comfort issues, self-perception of hearing condition and inability to detect warning signals when wearing HPDs. These are issues to be addressed in order to promote a more effective use of HPDs. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Hearing Mining Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Attitude Hearing Conservation Hearing Protection Industrial Factory Workers Industrial Noise Miners Mining Industry Noise Control Noise Levels Noise Protection Worker Motivation Workers Work Practices

  More +
• Publisher:
  Acoustical Society of America
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Presentation
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-19
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20023512
• Citation:
  First Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics/144th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Cancun, Mexico, Dec 2-6, 2002. Melville, NY: Acoustical Society of America, 2002 Dec; :1-19
• Email:
  tmorata@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  First Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics/144th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Cancun, Mexico
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cf0a5529696cdf799177843b80fb55afe3f54e1770aaccdefd5e3deda5004d5858d703132d44e6b22853e3fa0bc7c190db9320bf0fb5849cef6687ba67a614a5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195890/cdc_195890_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.81 MB ]