​5 Ways To Reduce Employee Exposure To Dangerous Occupational Noise

3rd Jul 2019

Occupational noise is one of the major threats to the well being of most forklift operators found in factories or warehouses. OSHA's permissible exposure limit (PEL) is 90 dBA for all workers for an 8 hour day.

Continuous exposure that exceeds those levels opens up workers to hearing loss and diminishing productivity. therefore if you are exposed to dBA that is above the outlined limit the lesser hours you should spend around the source of the noise. 

Unsurprisingly majority of this noise is normally generated from heavy machinery like forklifts that are vital to the operations in these warehouses/factories.

In today's safety Wednesday article we look at some of the things you can do to ensure your work environment is free from occupational noise that exceeds acceptable levels.

Replace Older Equipment

When heavy equipment like forklifts become old and worn out they generates a lot of noise during operations.

In most cases working with such equipment not only exposes your workers to potential accidents from equipment failure but also occupational noise.

Therefore it makes so much sense to replace such equipment with newer ones that will boost both safety and efficiency.

Provide Hearing Protection

In some cases, where replacing entire equipment is impossible or expensive it is important to provide your workers with hearing protection devices.

Some of the gadgets that have proven useful when it comes to protecting operators from occupational noise are earplugs and ear muffs.

However, it is key that you train your workers on the best way to use them for them to be more effective.

Use Barriers and Enclosers

You can also protect your operators from noise pollution through the use of barriers and enclosers.

By erecting barriers between the noise source and the population of workers you reduce their exposure to noise.

You can also condone off the noisy plants using enclosers that are soundproof so that the noise is confined to only one area of the warehouse away from the workers.

Change Operation hours

Administrative adjustments to ensure the operation hours of the machines and your workers are at different shifts can also help reduce their exposure to occupational noise.

You can schedule the machines to be operated at night as you allow other workers to operate during the day thereby effectively reducing their exposure to the dangerous occupational noise.

Provide Proper Maintenance

Occupational noise will also result when the moving parts of a machine or plant are not properly lubricated.

The best remedy in this scenario is proper and professional maintenance especially for heavy equipment like forklifts.

Therefore you should ensure that you schedule all your equipment for maintenance at regular intervals especially if they have a lot of moving parts.

It will not only keep your workers safe but prolong the life of the machine giving you more value for your money.

Therefore next time you are in a dilemma on what to do about occupational noise you can start by inspecting and replacing any old equipment.

If your equipment is relatively new then ensure you schedule it for proper maintenance especially when it comes to the moving parts. Erecting barriers and enclosure around the noisy areas will also help in a big way.

You can also make an administrative decision to allocate the operation of your nosiest equipment to night shifts. Another great solution is providing your workers with safety anti-noise gadgets. 

Forklift Tire Company is one of the largest suppliers of forklift tires in the USA. We are happy to help you find the right tires for your forklift truck. Visit our online store here for great discounts or email us at sales@forklifttire.com, our customer service team is ready to assist you.