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Many years ago I worked for a company where operatives drilled out the centre of their ear muffs and put Walkman head phones in them so that the noise from their department wouldnt bother them If they are wearing IPod earpieces I think its the same thing - the main issue as I remember the wire from the IPod to the earpiece would in fact break the seal around the ear defenders - thus rendering them useless and in fact giving them no protection at all against the noise levels. The manufacturer cannot guarantee attenuation if the ear defenders arent worn properly. The secondary bit is that they are in fact (dependant on how loud the IPod is playing at and how long they use them for ) exposing themselves to "noise" which may also exacerbate any hearing loss. If this practise continues there will be accelerated hearing loss I think, thus claims and in my opinion the employer would have no defense as he allowed this practise to continue ( this is how I would sell it to the MD) . There is also a liability on the employer under PPE/Noise regs I would think This issue is one that should really sit with H&S, I would get the H&S advisor on board and explain your concerns, I would also get onto the ear defender manufacturer as I seem to think there was a lot of work done on this years ago, there may also be info from acoustic society. Fact is - I think this is in breach of H&S regulations (eg Noise and PPE) , there needs to be some quantification of the problem by risk assessment, then the practise needs to stop. it will be an unpopular move so make sure its a multidisciplinary team effort to resolve the problem. Good luck! > Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 07:55:22 +0100 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Hearing protection and the use of IPOD music earphones etc > To: [log in to unmask] > > Good Morning! Can anyone help me with reference to any HSE information? I have a new client company who I have just found out yesterday that all the welders are using IPOD music earpieces under their HPD! This would appear to me to affect their hearing at work and definitely affect their hearing test results. Logic tells me that these should not be used, but I would appreciate it if anyone can point me to any literature that states this, so that I can give an informed and reasoned explanation to the MD that this practice should be stopped. > Many thanks, Sue > > ******************************** > Please remove this footer before replying. > > OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html > > CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH ******************************** Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH