dose
Busters USA
has developed an innovative solution to a problem that has challenged the
hearing conservation profession for decades:
What is the efficacy of personal hearing protection for individual users in
real workplace conditions?
The key element of our practical and affordable approach to hearing
conservation is the
Exposure Smart Protector (ESP)
(patented)
, which consists of both an apparatus and a method. The apparatus involves the
integration of a personal noise dosimeter (PND) with traditional hearing
protection; the method specifies both the microphone monitoring locations and
primary (protected) and secondary (unprotected) wearing positions for the
ESP
such that, when worn, the
ESP
measures and documents a worker's actual noise exposure. The
ESP
takes into account all the factors contributing to exposure uncertainty such
as fit and wearing time that otherwise limit, and ultimately control, the
effectiveness of a typical, traditional hearing protector. When the
ESP
is deployed as an integral part of a continuous exposure monitoring program to
determine the actual noise dose of workers every day, it can become a
powerful administrative tool
. Its use can ensure that noise exposed workers are protected to a safe noise
exposure as well as to document their long-term noise exposures. This
integrated approach is best illustrated with the diagram below:
Six field studies have been conducted by
dose
Busters USA
to demonstrate the efficacy and application of the
earmuff
version of the
ESP
; a field evaluation of the
earplug
model is ongoing. These workplace evaluations took place mainly in the harsh
and demanding environment of underground mines, ranged in duration from 2 days
to 3 months,
and involved 10 to 35 workers in each test. The only intervention occurred at
the initiation of each study when the workers were provided with simple wearing
instructions after the
ESP
's were installed on their hardhats:
wear the
ESP
's when it's noisy; remove them when it's quiet
.
The protected, full-shift noise exposure data obtained with the
ESP
's were compared to the unprotected noise exposure levels, as measured with
standard personal noise dosimetry near the top of each worker's shoulder. The
results from one study are shown below. Few workers experienced a noise
exposure above the Action Level (AL) of 50 %, or a Time Weighted Average (TWA)
of 85 dBA, when wearing the
ESP
's
The results of the field studies provide convincing evidence that when a worker
receives individual, quantitative feedback every day on his/her noise exposure,
the worker is capable of balancing protection and communication, and
effectively managing his/her own exposure. It is concluded that the use of
continuous monitoring and the
ESP
as the foundation of a hearing conservation program can eliminate occupational
hearing loss through upstream prevention, eliminate future liability for
hearing loss by documenting the daily noise exposure of every employee,
delineate between occupational and non-occupational hearing loss, and eliminate
the need for double protection.
-ESP Approach to Prevention of Hearing Loss-
-
Virtually eliminates the possibility of occupational noise-induced hearing loss
- Eliminates future liability for occupational hearing loss by documenting the daily noise exposure for every employee
- Delineates between occupational and non-occupational noise-induced hearing loss
- Achieves compliance as a by-product of PREVENTION
- Eliminates the need for double protection
-
Provides individual feedback to the employees on their daily noise exposure,
allowing them to balance protection and communication, and effectively manage
their own exposures
CONTACT:
|
Dr. Kevin Michael
814-234-7042 michael@dosebusters.com |
Dr. Alton Burks
412-292-7191 burks@dosebusters.com |