Your hearing can be damaged by repeated exposure to loud or
sudden high noise levels and your sense to touch can be damaged by exposure to excessive vibration.
So where do the risks come from?
Your hearing is at risk from: 1. Working with noisy plant equipment and tools such hammers, drills and saws
2. Exposure to high or prolonged noise levels
Exposure can happen in factories, building sites, farms, road works, waste recycling and even the entertainment industry
Problems with vibration can come from:
5. Using hand held power tools such as drills to chainsaws in farming, forestry, gardening,
manufacturing or engineering
6. Using high impact tools such as breakers or scallers
7. Holding vibrating surfaces such as certain cleaning equipment or badly functioning steering wheels.
and 8. These situations are made worse by wet or cold working conditions
So what are the causes of these risks? The causes include: 0:01:.280,0:01:12.960 9. Poor choice of equipment for the job
10. Using old or poorly maintained equipment
11. Poor control, housing or separation of noisy or vibrating equipment from your workers
12. Incorrect or poorly maintained protective equipment
13. A lack of training or awareness of the health risks and poor management
So how does all this affect your health?
Exposures to noise can effect your health in a number of ways including conditions such as permanent or temporary damage to hearing:
14. Sleep disturbance due to ringing in the ears
15. Tinnitus or constant buzzing in the ears
16. Hearing loss making it difficult to take part in everyday life
Health effects from vibration include
16. Tingling, pins and needles and numbness in the fingers
17. Damage to blood vessels causing fingers and hands to go white and become painful
19. A loss of strength in the hands
So how do you control the risks?
There are a number of methods including:
21. Using a quieter method or low noise or vibratory tool
22. Introduce engineering controls such as enclosures, screens and silencers
also 23.Fit dampening pads or anti-vibration mounts
24. Introduce low noise and vibration purchasing or hiring policy for equipment
25. Maintain machinery to reduce noise and vibration due to friction and loose moving parts and blunt cutting edges
26. Limit the time spent in noisy areas or on vibrating tools and equipment
27. Consider health checks for early detection or management of health risks
28. Always provide suitable information, instruction and training to staff and
and 29. Monitor your systems to ensure they are effective in reducing exposure.
Following these examples will help you reduce your health risks at work. For more information, check out the get help chapter at the end of this DVD and in the guidance pack.