Self-assessment of hearing status and risk of noise-induced hearing loss in workers in a rolling stock plant

Noise measurements and questionnaire inquiries were carried out for 124 workers of a rolling stock plant to develop a hearing conservation program. On the basis of that data, the risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) was evaluated. Additionally, the workers' hearing ability was assessed with the (modified) Amsterdam inventory for auditory disability and handicap, (m)AIADH. The workers had been exposed to noise at A-weighted daily noise exposure levels of 74-110 dB for 1-40 years. Almost one third of the workers complained of hearing impairment and the (m)AIADH results showed some hearing difficulties in over half of them. The estimated risk of hearing loss over 25 dB in the frequency range of 3-6 kHz was 41-50% when the standard method of predicting NIHL specified in Standard No. ISO 1999:1990 was used. This risk increased to 50-67% when noise impulsiveness, coexposure to organic solvents, elevated blood pressure and smoking were included in calculations.     

职业噪声危害控制的对策——“听力保护计划纲要(草案)”要点

分析了国内职业噪声危害和控制的现状,提出有效控制我国职业噪声危害的途经是制定并执行有效的听力保护计划。还详细给出了“听力保护计划纲要(草案)”的要点。该纲要(草案)是劳动部劳动保护科学研究所根据国内外在听力保护方面的多年经验,并结合我国国情起草的。此纲要(草案)在北京清河毛纺厂试点,业已取得明显效果。     

Theoretical predictions and actual hearing threshold levels in workers exposed to ultrasonic noise of impulsive character--a pilot study.

Results of standard pure-tone audiometry (PTA) were collected from 25 workers, mainly females, aged 23-58 years, exposed for 2-13 years to ultrasonic noise emitted by ultrasonic welders. Hearing tests were completed by evaluation of exposure to ultrasonic noise. The subjects' actual audiometric hearing threshold levels (HTLs) were compared with theoretical predictions calculated according to ISO 1999:1990. In 60% of cases sound pressure levels in the 10-40 kHz 1/3-octave bands at workstands exceeded Polish exposure limits for ultrasonic noise. Our comparison of predicted and measured HTLs suggests that the ISO 1999:1990 method, intended for audible noise, might also make it possible to predict reliably permanent hearing loss (in the 2000-6000 Hz frequency range) after exposure to ultrasonic noise. No significant progress of hearing impairment (assessed using PTA) in the operators of ultrasonic welders was noted. Nevertheless, further studies on the hearing status of workers exposed to ultrasonic noise are needed.     

我国纺织噪声暴露现状及听力损失情况预测

通过对国内纺织业从业人员数量、工龄的统计和企业实地噪声情况的调查，借鉴ISO1999—1975（E）和其它相关方法预测我国纺织行业噪声暴露情况和从业人员的听力损失情况。经过预测，结果显示纺织从业人员暴露于85dB以下噪声的约有289．3万人，85～95dB约有381．2万人，高于95dB约有329．5万人；对于听力损失的预测，采用悲观和乐观法分别进行预测，结果表明约有100．57万人和21．61万人患有听力损失；结合实际调研情况对预测数据进行修正，结果表明目前我国纺织行业约有70．96万人患有听力损失。     

Organizational influence on working people's occupational noise protection in Hong Kong

INTRODUCTION: While there is some evidence of the influences of personal knowledge and organizational factors on workers' hearing protection, a causal model examining relationships between these variables is lacking. METHOD: To create and test such a model, this study collected data from 1,701 workers in Hong Kong through a random sample telephone survey. RESULTS: Fitting the model to the data revealed that organizational regulation of occupational noise protection was a root cause of workers' protective behavior, whereas workers knowledge about the protection exhibited only a minimal effect. CONCLUSIONS: These findings cast doubt on the significance of personal knowledge as a unique factor contributing to noise protection. The study also finds that organizational regulation was predictable by a number of organizational and industrial factors. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: To prevent occupational deafness, organizational regulation accompanied by regular inspection and a norm of noise protection is important.     

Noise and neurotoxic chemical exposure relationship to workplace traumatic injuries: A review

IntroductionMore than 5,000 fatalities and eight million injuries occurred in the workplace in 2007 at a cost of $6 billion and $186 billion, respectively. Neurotoxic chemicals are known to affect central nervous system functions among workers, which include balance and hearing disorders. However, it is not known if there is an association between exposure to noise and solvents and acute injuries. Method: A thorough review was conducted of the literature on the relationship between noise or solvent exposures and hearing loss with various health outcomes. Results: The search resulted in 41 studies. Health outcomes included: hearing loss, workplace injuries, absence from work due to sickness, fatalities, hospital admissions due to workplace accidents, traffic accidents, hypertension, balance, slip, trips, or falls, cognitive measures, or disability retirement. Important covariates in these studies were age of employee, type of industry or occupation, or length of employment. Discussion: Most authors that evaluated noise exposure concluded that higher exposure to noise resulted in more of the chosen health effect but the relationship is not well understood. Studies that evaluated hearing loss found that hearing loss was related to occupational injury, disability retirement, or traffic accidents. Studies that assessed both noise exposure and hearing loss as risk factors for occupational injuries reported that hearing loss was related to occupational injuries as much or more than noise exposure. Evidence suggests that solvent exposure is likely to be related to accidents or other health consequences such balance disorders. Conclusions: Many authors reported that noise exposures and hearing loss, respectively, are likely to be related to occupational accidents. Practical applications: The potential significance of the study is that findings could be used by managers to reduce injuries and the costs associated with those injures.     

铅与噪声对蓄电池制造作业工人健康影响的联合作用

探讨铅与噪声对蓄电池制造作业工人的联合作用,为职业危害联合作用健康管理提供科学依据。依据蓄电池厂作业工人的职业史调查、环境检测和生物检测资料,将研究对象分为铅与噪声联合暴露组、单纯铅暴露组、正常组,分析比较3组作业工人的听力损伤、神经系统和消化系统症状、贫血结果。结果显示在4 000 Hz和6 000 Hz频率段,联合组听力异常率及听阈均值高于单纯铅暴露组和正常组(P0.05),与单纯铅暴露组和正常组比较,联合组的神经系统和消化系统症状率明显增多(P0.05)。表明铅和噪声联合作用可增加作业者的听觉系统、神经系统和消化系统症状患病,并提出相应管理对策。     

八十年代工业噪声控制的几个主要进展——我国工业噪声控制技术水平评述

回顾并阐述了80年代国内外在工业噪声控制方面的几个主要进展。通过对比,分析评述我国当前工业噪声控制技术的实际水平。虽然我国在噪声控制技术的某些方面,例如计算机在工业噪声预测和控制方面的应用、声强测量、有源消声的实际应用等方面,同国外相比尚有一定差距,但就总体来说,我国的噪声控制技术水平同世界先进国家相比,大体相当,有的方面甚至还要超过。为达到有效控制我国工业噪声危害的目的,建议除进一步加强噪声控制技术的研究外,制定并推行有效的听力保护计划是至关重要的。     

护耳器使用现状评述

研究表明：护耳器现场使用实际声衰减值低于实验室值,其原因是护耳器的实验室测量条件较为严格。工人在现场实际使用护耳器时,未能同实验室中的受试者一样佩戴护耳器,因而获得的护耳器声衰减比实验室所测得的值低。另一方面,在８小时强噪声环境中工作期间,未自始至终佩戴护耳器,则也达不到预期的保护听力的效果。笔者还综合分析和评述了护耳器现场使用时实际声衰减值降低的原因,并提出了一些有益的建议     

Design of Optimal Noise Hazard Control Strategy With Budget Constraint

An analytical design procedure to determine optimal noise hazard control strategies for industrial facilities is presented. Its objective is to determine a set of appropriate noise controls to eliminate or reduce noise levels so that workers ‘ daily noise exposure does not exceed a permissible level. From a given noise control budget, engineering controls will be firstly implemented, followed by administrative controls, and then the use of hearing protection devices. Six optimization models are developed and sequentially applied to select appropriate noise controls without exceeding the budget. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the application of the proposed design procedure.     

Application of Prevention through Design for hearing loss in the mining industry

INTRODUCTION: Overexposure to noise remains a widespread and serious health hazard in the U.S. service providing and goods producing industries. Excessive noise can lead to poor verbal communication and reduce the ability to recognize warning signals. These dangerous work conditions can also cause stress and fatigue. Occupational hearing loss is a permanent illness, with no recovery currently possible. METHOD: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recognized Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) as one of the ten leading work-related diseases and injuries in the United States, and has emphasized its importance as one of the critical areas expressed in the National Occupational Research Agenda. RESULTS: One of the most serious noise problems in the goods producing industries is the operation of continuous mining machines during underground coal mining. In order to minimize occupational hearing loss, noise hazards are "designed out" early in the design process. NIOSH is leading a national initiative called Prevention through Design (PTD) to promote this concept. This paper describes the quiet-by-design approach of a noise control that reduced noise exposures of continuous mining machine operators by 3dB(A) using the four functional areas of PTD, namely Practice, Policy, Research, and Education.     

化肥行业噪声危害调查及治理评价

通过对７家大中型化肥厂的噪声调查，分析了化肥行业中的噪声源特性和岗位噪声暴露状况。对１６０１名作业工人进行了体检并得出了噪声危害和岗位噪声的剂量──反应关系。还对各厂已采取的噪声治理措施进行了技术评价。最后，根据化肥行业的特点，提出了降低噪声和加强听力保护的几点建议。     

电子工业脉冲噪声对工人健康影响的调查研究

对电子行业接触脉冲噪声的冲压工进行了调查，其脉冲噪声水平波动在１０２～１１２ｄＢ（八）之间（峰值），对作业工人听力已产生不同程度的损伤，心电图在中高工龄组有改变。还分析了脉冲噪声引起听力损失与暴露时间有密切关系。提出了进一步加强安全监督管理的对策。     

石油钻井工人护耳器防护效果的评价

从实验室筛选出的７种护耳器，经９９名钻井工人现场使用作了主观评价。通过现场工人噪声防护效果的评价，推选出４种护耳器作为石油勘探工人首先使用的个人防护用品。     

An examination of antecedents to coal miners' hearing protection behaviors: a test of the theory of planned behavior

PROBLEM: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's [NIOSH] National Occupational Research Agenda (DHHS Publication No. 96-115) reports that approximately 50% of miners will experience hearing loss by age 50, compared to only 9% of the general population. The present investigation examines three antecedents believed to be associated with miner's use of hearing protection. METHOD: A posttest-delayed-posttest-control group field research design was employed to assess antecedents toward wearing hearing protection. RESULTS: Following the initial posttest, miners' attitudes and subjective norms were antecedents to intentions to wear hearing protection devices. Also, intentions toward wearing hearing protection predicted hearing protection behaviors. Approximately six weeks later, miners' attitudes and perceived behavioral control were each significant predictors of intentions to wear hearing protection and again, intentions were positively associated with hearing protection behaviors. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Our results indicate that appeals to normative influences may be the most effective antecedent to employ when persuading coal miners to wear hearing protection. However, messages designed to impact attitudes and perceived behavioral control were also effective.     

Occupational noise exposure and hearing defects among sawmill workers in the south of Thailand

The aim of this study was to investigate occupational noise exposure and hearing defects among sawmill workers in the south of Thailand. Seven hundred sawmill workers participated, of which 335 (47.9%) were male. The mean age of the sawmill workers was 33.5 years (SD 10.2), and more than 60% were <35 years old; 75.1% of the workers had less than 5 years of work experience. Only about one in four workers (25%) had been trained in use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and half of the participants never or rarely wore PPE while working. The prevalence rate of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) was 22.8% (N?=?42). Male workers had significantly higher risk than female workers (odds ratio [OR]?=?2.21). Workers aged older than 25 years had significantly higher risks for NIHL (OR?=?3.51–12.42) than workers younger than 25 years. Sawing workers had higher risk for NIHL than office workers (OR?=?3.07).     

Effect of wearing hearing protectors on the audibility of railway warning signals – an experimental study

The effect of wearing hearing protectors on the audibility of warning signals has been evaluated for three specific railway-related jobs: track workers, train drivers and platform agents. Masked thresholds were measured in the laboratory, on railway agents with normal hearing, using warning signals and background noises typical of each job. Out of the 36 situations tested in total, statistical analyses showed that wearing earplugs improves the perception in 11 situations, deteriorates the perception in 10 situations and has no significant effect in 15 situations (as compared to no hearing protector). The deteriorations essentially concern signals which have no (or not enough) energy in the low-frequency range (ff相似文献   

A framework for evaluating OSH program effectiveness using leading and trailing metrics

Introduction

Many employers and regulators today rely primarily on a few past injury/ illness metrics as criteria for rating the effectiveness of occupational safety and health (OSH) programs. Although such trailing data are necessary to assess program success, they may not be sufficient for developing proactive safety, ergonomic, and medical management plans.

Methods

The goals of this pilot study were to create leading metrics (company self-assessment ratings) and trailing metrics (past loss data) that could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of OSH program elements that range from primary to tertiary prevention. The main hypothesis was that the new metrics would be explanatory variables for three standard future workers compensation (WC) outcomes in 2003 (rates of total cases, lost time cases, and costs) and that the framework for evaluating OSH programs could be justifiably expanded. For leading metrics, surveys were developed to allow respondents to assess OSH exposures and program prevention elements (management leadership/ commitment, employee participation, hazard identification, hazard control, medical management, training, and program evaluation). After pre-testing, surveys were sent to companies covered by the same WC insurer in early 2003. A total of 33 completed surveys were used for final analysis. A series of trailing metrics were developed from 1999-2001 WC data for the surveyed companies. Data were analyzed using a method where each main 2003 WC outcome was dichotomized into high and low loss groups based on the median value of the variable. The mean and standard deviations of survey questions and 1999-2001 WC variables were compared between the dichotomized groups. Hypothesis testing was performed using F-test with a significance level 0.10.

Results/Discussion

Companies that exhibited higher musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) WC case rates from 1999-2001 had higher total WC case rates in 2003. Higher levels of several self-reported OSH program elements (tracking progress in controlling workplace safety hazards, identifying ergonomic hazards, using health promotion programs) were associated with lower rates of WC lost time cases in 2003. Higher reported exposures to noise and projectiles were also associated with higher rates of WC cases and costs in 2003.

Impact on Industry

This research adds to a growing body of preliminary evidence that valid leading and trailing metrics can be developed to evaluate OSH effectiveness. Both the rating of OSH efforts and the regular trending of past loss outcomes are likely useful in developing data-driven improvement plans that are reactive to past exposures and proactive in identifying system deficiencies that drive future losses.     

某飞机维修公司个人听力防护用品使用情况调查分析

为了解听力防护用品使用过程中的问题,提高我国噪声暴露工人听力防护用品的使用率和有效率,选择噪声危害较大的某飞机维修公司的员工,进行听力防护用品使用情况的问卷调查。结果显示:该公司为员工提供耳塞和耳罩两种听力防护用品;员工的听力保护意识、使用情况较好,使用率达95%,但对听力防护用品相关知识的了解不够全面;能够在工作中一直坚持使用的工人较少,仅占11%,影响工人工作时间使用听力防护用品时间长短的因素主要是其舒适性。调查分析提示:在未来听力防护用品的生产过程中,需要进一步加强和改善舒适性的技术;政府、企业和个人3方面共同参与,降低职业性噪声暴露对工人听力的损伤。