Industrial Deafness In Food and Drink Industry
Hearing loss accounts for three quarters of all workplace injury claims and industrial deafness, with a long history of excessive noise, is still considered a persistent and frequent experience for many workers in manufacturing sectors.
Many efforts to address the problem of noise induced hearing loss within traditional construction industry environments, the leisure industry and the military, have led to much welcomed legislation and the resultant legal process, yet still there a number of workplaces which are often overlooked as posing a hearing damage risk despite accounting for a significant percentage of annual UK industrial deafness compensation claims.
Those men and women who work in the food and drink manufacturing industry will be all too familiar with some of the excessive noise levels and the potential hearing damage they could sustain, or may have already encountered.
Most common health or injury risk problems are work-related stress, muscle strain and occupational asthma, whilst noise induced hearing loss, although also one of the most common complaints, can be quite difficult to detect. Deterioration in hearing clearly occurs slowly and almost unnoticed over a period of time.
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) there are several identifiable workplace activities with high and potentially dangerous noise levels, with milling, drink production and the meat industry, estimated to be the most dangerous:
- 85-100dB Glass bottling lines.
- 90-100dB Product impact on hoppers
- 85-95dB Wrapping, cutting wrap, bagging, etc.
- 85-95dB Bowl choppers (pneumatic noise and compressed air).
- 85-100dB Milling operations.
- 85-100dB Saws/cutting machinery.
- 85-107dB Blast chillers/freezers.
- 85-95dB Packaging machinery.
- Up to 107dB Manually pushing wheeled (trolleys etc).
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 states that Employers are required to take preventative action when noise levels exceed 80dB and 85dB.