Smoke Detector Hearing Damage

I work at a hospital and do maintenance. When I mow the lawn or run the snowblower, I am REQUIRED to wear ear silencers. I find this not only rediculous, but dangerous. If the mower blade hits a rock, I cant even hear it. I have been mowing and running power equipment all my life, and my hearing is fine. Or, at least my hearing WAS fine until December 31. On December 31, it is mandatory that we change the batteries in the smoke detectors in every room throughout the hospital. That means every patient room, the hallways, the bathrooms, even the janitor closet. Of course, changing the battery also means testing the detectors. So here I was standing on a ladder with these things blasting one foot from my ears, in a tiny closet. Room after room I had to listen to this noise until I could barely hear anyone talking, and this went on over half the day. I was not told by my supervisor to wear ear protection, apparently it's not in the OSHA book, which means it's not required.

My ears literally hurt after this......

While smoke detectors are a good thing to save lives in the event of a fire, those saved may end up deaf.....

I am looking for facts and statistics about this. Anybody have any?

Next year, I will INSIST on wearing ear silencers, or will refuse to do the job until I can wear them.....

Freddy

Reply to
freddypeterson
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Common sense would dictate that an adult wouldn't have to be told to wear hearing protection. BIG DUH!!!

Reply to
Baroness Benachi

Uh, OK -- a guy who thinks that wearing ear silencers while running a leaf blower with the dB level of a small jet engine is ridiculous, but yet he finds that anoying little peep-peep-peep of a smoke detector in a closet deafening? Well, we humans just aren't a logical bunch, are we?

Be that as it may, any idiot who values his hearing wears ear protection of some sort for any sustained-noise situation, be it using a circular saw, hammering nails in planks, sitting at a NASCAR or Indy track, blowing snow, or listening to ones wife or mother-in-law drone on incessantly about something or another in the car. And unless you're one of those naturally-insufferable jerks who like to make an issue out of absolutely everything no matter how petty, I really don't think you really need to do any protesting about wearing ear protection. Just buy whatever ear plugs are suitable for the dB level, and just wear 'em. No sense in making a big hairy scene about it.

Besides, actually hearing a rock you've run over with a lawn mower would be the least of your problems compared to when it plows thru all that meat and bone on your leg, or some bystander's skull, at about 100mph. I would think that as a safety-conscious maintenance guy, you'd have the foresight in the first place to make sure the lawn didn't have any rocks laying about in the first place.

AJS

Reply to
AJScott

Just wear ear plugs. Why do you need permission? I am VERY sensitive to noise & even wore them during a fire drill in our bldg when we returned but the alarm was still going off - it was set off by mistake to begin with. I wear them on New Year's Eve, July 4th, concerts, even movies...yes, movies - for some reason lately the movies are too loud - even for my husband, although he doesn't wear ear plugs. I think the louder the noise we listen to the more we need louder noise, etc. etc.

Reply to
KRusso6984

Use your head Fred. I always plug my ears when testing the detector. that SOB is loud! A certain level of constant noise can hurt your hearing over time. It don't take as much as many would think and the hearing loss is not noticeable over a short period as it may take years with the lower levels. Check OSHA. they may have chart in decibels.

I'd be surprised you still couldn't hear a rock being hit with hearing protection on. It does not block all the sound. What difference does it make if you hear the rock getting hit or not? The damage is done!. John

Reply to
jriegle

Christ, I wear ear plugs on long drives with my kids!

-- Best Regards, Dennis J Sunday Home Inspection Systems

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Reply to
Dennis J Sunday

I hope I don't have to tell you to see a doctor immediately. (No, he doesn't have to be at your hospital.) Hearing injury this serious could lead to permanent hearing loss.

Never heard of it, but the 85dB level mandated for many (most?) detectors is very close to the 90dB level that can cause permanent loss after 15 minutes of exposure.

I also suggest you do the testing with a broom handle. But you should definitely contact an ear specialist so that you can document any lasting effects, the sooner the better, and then secure a good workmen's comp attorney.

Since this is an employment issue, workmen's comp law will *probably* be required rather than the usual liability torts. This means that arbitration will be the method rather than lawsuit/settlement, and your ability to secure compensation will be strictly limited by schedules of injury and functionality (I don't think lost income will come into play here, though). You also won't be subject to joint-and-several liability issues or, as I understand it, any judgement regarding your percentage of personal responsibility [for not voluntarily protecting your own ears, or standing so close to the horn], but I could be wrong.

I would also suggest contacting OSHA, probably after consulting with your attorney, so that they can add to their database of recommendations. A recent NYT series documented their failures to really prosecute even repeat offenders, going back years and years, so I wouldn't expect them to go to bat for you. But you could think of others down the road.

Reply to
Dan Hartung

For what? To tell them he is too dumb to wear hearing protection? Does the supervisor have to tell him to wipe his ass after taking a dump?

If you know you have sensitivity to noise, you know you will be testing alarms, you go get hearing protection. The guy needs an infusion of common sense. Why should society pay for his stupidity? If the supervisor told him NOT to wear hearing protection, that would be reason to complain. He has to have some responsibility for his own well being. It only takes a few second to put plugs in your ears or put on the muffs.

The OP is terminally stupid. OSHA will be of no help to him. Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Unfortunately, Ed, this type of attitude in the workforce is becoming all too common. I'm glad I'm old enough to retire so I don't have to put up with it anymore. Today's workers are conditioned to take no responsibility or initiative, and common sense doesn't enter the picture. My workers have been told many times by their union: "If it's not written down don't do it." I could relate numerous horror stories along these lines. No wonder manufacturing and service jobs are being shipped overseas.

Jim

Reply to
ChiliJim

Original Poster.

HTH, Joe F.

Reply to
rb608

original post or poster

Reply to
j j

Or just carry a towel to muffle the sound of the alarms he tests. Its not rocket science. Apparantly, he does need to be told to wipe his ass by his supervisor.

Reply to
Me

Use ear dogs Dumb ass Sick a hot dog in each ear, then you can eat em when your done Stormin -- Freddy, your a lousy troll

Reply to
m Ransley

It is good that there are Unions. Many people are incapable of thinking for themselves and would never make it outside of a Union workplace. Get a friggin' life, man! Des

Reply to
Des Perado

{more snipped)

Please define OP for me. I have seen it used in numerous post recently and am a bit too dense to decipher it.

Thanks.

Reply to
Newby

Where did you get that information? very doubtful.

A "good" worker's comp attorney? A lot like free legal/medical advice on the internet. A "good" worker's comp attorney will take a percent of the benefits the worker is entitled to by law, which include benefits for most types of permanent losses. Assuming the employee had a recent hearing test which established a baseline.

The guy probably has employer furnished hearing protection but chose not to wear it? Sue who?

The event should be reported to the employer ASAP since there seems to have been some sort of injury. Then, the employer will send employee to their doc, at their expense. They record the injury in an OSHA log, report to the state (varies by state). If a permanent injury has occurred, or time is lost, it may require reporting to OSHA; the employer probably is thoroughly familiar.

A short beep from a smoke alarm, long enough to know it works, doesn't amount to much time for exposure, but being right up next to it isn't good. Here is a link to OSHA's hearing stuff:

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It's pretty unusual to have pain after noise exposure - ringing in your ears, and a "muffled" sense would be more typical. A short beep on each alarm is still relatively little time of exposure, even if you change batteries really quickly.

On the outside chance you have a policy and procedure manual - usually collecting dust on a shelf along side the MSDS manual - it might say that hearing protection is required. Hope not. :o)

PS: Hearing your lawn mower hit a rock will do exactly no good. The damage is done when it hits. Got your steel toe shoes on when you mow?

Reply to
norminn

Thanks to all who responded.

Reply to
Newby

No offense meant (at least not too much anyway) but it's people like you who have made seatbelt, helmet, and other laws mandatory and lawyers rich.

If your ears hurt, wear some hear>I work at a hospital and do maintenance. When I mow the lawn or run

Reply to
Jim K

OK, let me clarify the situation. This is a huge establishment, and there are more than one building involved. My supervisor had me working on another project, then he paged me to go over to the other building, and did not say why. I went over there and he and another worker were already testing the detectors (WITHOUT ear protection). As soon as the first one went off, I asked my sup. if he had brought the ear silencers, and I told him this noise hurts my ears. He just said they are not required, and we'd be done testing the detectors in a short while. I told him that I'd prefer to wear them, and STRESSED that the sound really hurts my ears. He told me that by the time I go back to our shop (in the other building), to get the ear silencers, , they would be done testing the detectors, and we needed to get that job done because there were many other projects left to do for the day. He told me to just plug my ears.

OK, now what do I plug them with? My hands are being used, so I cant use my fingers. These decectors have a switch that must be turned from OFF to TEST (not pushed), then turned back, AFTER is squaks. I am up on a ladder and I do like to steady myself with one hand on the ladder. Even if I didn't use my hand on the ladder, there would still be only one ear plugged for part of the time the thing is squaking. Some of the detectors would activate as soon as I plugged in the AC line (dual powered types), and it takes TWO hands to get them back on the ceiling, (cant plug my ears while doing this). And last but not least, the sup and other guy were testing other detectors only feet away from me. So, what was I supposed to do, plug my ears and ask another guy to do all the work?

You know the old story, bitch too much, and go look for another job. I shutup, did my work, and now I want to find the legal requirements and other info on this, because it won't happen again. Next time we check those things, I plan to cite any and all requirements (of law), that ear plugs or silencers be worn, and if no laws apply, I want to know why not, and will contact OSHA.

Lastly: This "done in a short time" killed a good part of a day, or over 3 hours of listening to those noisy things. I plugged my ears when I could, (with my fingers), but that was probably 30% of the time at most.

Reply to
freddypeterson

When I hear it, I back off the mower. If I dont hear it when it first touched the rock, it does more damage. I dont mean loose rocks, I mean those large ones enbedded in the ground that get snarfed if the blade is set on low. The more I mow that place, the more I learn where they are, and even have removed some of them, but the place is on a hill, and rains tend to cause some to surface at times.

Reply to
freddypeterson

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