Essay: Prevention of NIHL

Sample Essay

Currently, there are health and safety regulations in place in several countries to prevent and decrease incidences of hearing the loss in employees. In New Zealand documentation behind such regulations is known as the Health and Safety in Employment Act and the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations. These two documents established in 1992 and 1995 respectively provide legislations to provide a safe working environment for employees, the responsibility of which is attributed to the employer. The regulations not only require the employer to minimize any harmful or potentially dangerous hazards but also to put a system into place to continuous detect the health status of his employees (Reid, 2005).

Regulations require occupational environments to have an “eight-hour equivalent continuous sound pressure” of 85 decibels. The regulation also requires that maximum level of sound pressure within such an area not exceed 140 decibels. Though eight hours is considered to be the average working time for most individuals, certain professions such as the United States coast guard take other considerations into mind and use a 24-hour time limit to measure the level of exposure. What is not legislated however is the method by which employers may reduce such hazards. The term practicable is used to describe the essential steps which must be taken in order to protect employees from hearing disability. However, due to the varied definition of the term practical cost-cutting measures may be put into place by proprietor when they refuse to modify or buy new equipment and instead use hearing projectors to cover noise output. “Personal hearing protection” devices known as earmuffs or earplugs are also widely employed (Reid, 2005).

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