"Adequate information and appropriate training must be provided to all persons who need to wear personal hearing protectors." (Thiery, 2004).
Here is a concrete example put forward by Dr. Anne-Marie ROBERT, occupational physician at SMIRR, Reims (France).
It takes place in a metallurgy company.
Out of 111 employees, 67 are exposed to noise levels above 85dB (A).
Month 0 : From the beginning, 24 employees were wearing HPD (either standard earplugs or headsets).
Month + 12 : Through close collaboration between the doctor and employees, a year later 56 employees were accustomed to wearing hearing protectors.
Month + 18 : Eighteen months later, based on the good results, the company decided to invest in customized earplugs.
Month + 24 : In two years, the 64 employees were continuously wearing their customized hearing protectors.
Changes in wearing HPD following an awareness campaign as a first step, and the implementation of customized earplugs as a second step
With standard HPD, without any action, 36% of employees are protected temporarily.
- The first awareness session conducted for 12 months helped increase the percentage of employees protected from 36 to 84%.
- A second action was implemented following these good results: By offering more comfortable customized hearing protectors, 96% of employees benefit from permanent hearing protection.