RISK MANAGEMENT

www.saif.com RISK MANAGEMENT

Personal Stereos/Radios in the Workplace

Ever since its introduction into American culture over 20 years ago, the personal stereo (including personal CD and radio players that are commonly referred to as a Walkman) has been a common fixture on the heads of teens and adults alike. Personal stereos give people the sense of isolation which contributes to the perception of not being disturbed by any outside activity or conversation. Many students wear personal stereos while studying in quiet environments. Other people listen to their favorite music while exercising, working or doing yard work. In some instances, workers wear personal stereos while on-the-job. Employers should be aware of potential problems such a practice could cause at their workplace.

S-839
May 2007

RISK MANAGEMENT Personal Stereos/Radios in the Workplace

www.saif.com

Hearing Concern Safety and health professionals have expressed concern about the physical effects that these personal stereos have on individuals ability to hear. Noise from personal stereos can potentially impair hearing over time if the decibel levels emitted are greater than 85 dBA. Because many people take advantage of the acoustic isolation provided by headphones and listen at higher volumes, hearing damage is more common from headphones than from loudspeakers. Additionally, even at comparable volumes, headphones present more risk of hearing damage than loudspeakers due to the close coupling of the transducers to the ears. Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OR-OSHA) distinguishes between two categories of jobs: (1.) Jobs which have noise exposures below the hearing conservation program action level (85 dB), and; (2.) Jobs with noise exposures above the mandatory hearing protection level (90 dB) require the employees to wear hearing protectors and be in a hearing conservation program. (For jobs where noise levels are between 85 and 90 decibels, annual audiometric testing is mandatory and hearing protectors must be provided.) Category 1 - For those in the first group, OSHA does not have a specific recommendation regarding the use of personal stereos in the workplace. However, one needs to be careful that the addition of a personal stereo to whatever background noise may be present does not bring workers exposure to above 90 dB. If this occurs, it is a violation of OSHA standards to be wearing the personal stereo and should be prohibited by the employer. The best recommendation is that anytime a worker chooses to use a personal stereo, his or her exposure level be measured. In a recent study of noise exposure from portable stereos (Airo et al. 1 ), listeners in a quiet laboratory setting were comfortable with headphones set at an average volume of 69 dB. Once outside where the mean noise level was 65 dB, the average volume went up to 82 dB, with some levels as high as 95 dB. It is also important that employees understand the potential dangers involved with personal stereos, and be willing to keep the volume at a minimal level without external motivation. Employees need to want to protect their hearing.

Airo, Erkko (et al.), Listening To Music With Earphones: A Noise Exposure Assessment (1997), Hearnet.

SAIF Corporation

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S-839

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RISK MANAGEMENT Personal Stereos/Radios in the Workplace

www.saif.com

Category 2 - OSHA applies different standards to workers who are in the second group. A worker who is exposed to noise above the 90 dB level must be provided with hearing protection. In these instances, OSHA indicates that workers should not use personal stereos while on the job. Noise reduction ratings are not assigned to personal stereos, as they are not designed to muffle outside noise. When wearing personal stereos, workers are exposed to both the outside noise and the music. Since noise levels are additive logarithmically, this is a dangerous combination if the noise in the environment is equal to or greater than 85 dB. Safety Concern Beyond the potential impact on the noise level, personal stereos can present another concern in the workplace. Often, those using personal stereos become absorbed in what they are hearing which interferes with their abilities to sense the environment around them. They can become easily distracted. The important thing to remember: anyone working around equipment, vehicles and other hazards should not be using personal stereos. In addition to the hazards associated with personal stereos it is important to be aware of the effect of adding other noise sources (i.e. boom boxes). Consider the following example: Noise testing is conducted at your operations and the ambient noise is found to be 82 dBA. Employees decide to bring in a boom box so they can listen to their favorite music while working. In order to hear the music over the work noises the radio is set at 84 dBA. New testing is done on the work environment and with the additional noise exposure from the radio the overall noise level is now 86.1 dBA 2 . Because the noise exposure is now over 85 dBA, all affected employees must now be enrolled in a Hearing Conservation Program as required by OR-OSHA. Before allowing additional noise sources to be added to the work environment consider the overall effect and the potential for increased exposures.

dB Total = 10 log10 dB/10

SAIF Corporation

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S-839

May 2007