Xciting news from hearX | August 2024
In this month’s newsletter, we’re focusing on an often-overlooked aspect of workplace safety: hearing health and its impact on employee well-being and regulatory compliance.
Hearing conservation - Does your company have a plan in place?
Did you know…
Companies where employees are exposed to extended noise levels (above 85 dB averaged over 8 working hours) need to be part of a hearing conservation program as part of workplace health and safety regulations in countries such as the US, UK and South Africa.
Employers who do not implement and comply with hearing conservation programs risk potential violation penalties. As of January 15th, 2024, civil fine penalty amounts have increased by 3% for employers violating OSHA standard or regulation.
Minimum charges start from $16,131 upwards to $161,323 for severe and repeated violations.
What can you do to ensure compliance?
In 1983, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration published its Hearing Conservation Standard (29 CFR1910.95) to regulate and guide compliance and hearing conservation efforts. In short, OSHA regulations can be broken down into 7 parts to help direct your hearing conservation efforts, which include[1]:
Learn more about the role OSHA plays in guiding, regulating and supporting hearing conservation in the workplace, by downloading their full directive below[2]. Rethink employee well-being and take the first step toward a more robust conservation program.
A sound approach to occupational health?
Noise-induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is cited as the second most common cause of sensorineural hearing loss, after age-related hearing loss and currently affects around 5% of the global population[3]. Despite increased awareness about its impact, businesses still face several challenges, which include: the effective implementation of a hearing conservation program, ensuring regulatory compliance, and conducting hearing tests efficiently and cost-effectively.
Heeding the call, hearX? has developed hearTest Occ Health - a CE-certified digital audiometer with OSHA compliant protocols. Where traditional hearing testing typically requires a soundproof booth, our approach to boothless testing ensures accurate, efficient and user-friendly testing ?that you can conduct on-site. In addition, hearTest Occ Healt’s integration with our secure cloud-based data management system provides you with real-time access to test data and patient records to streamline your compliance reporting.
Visit our blog to find out more about hearTest Occ Health’s features.
Ready to make the switch to #Boothless?
Book a risk-free online demo with one of our product experts:
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NSC 2024 - Where safety and innovation come together
The National Safety Congress (NSC) Expo is known as the world’s largest annual safety event - an opportunity for industry leaders to come together to discuss new safety challenges, share innovations and enhance workplace safety practices.. The hearX team is excited to participate in this year’s exhibition, which promises to have the largest attendee count to date.
From educational tracks to exhibition stands with the latest tech, this is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. If you’re in the Florida area, visit stand 3941.
??? Exhibition dates: ?September 16th to 18th, 2024
You can look forward to learning more about:
? Schedule a 15-min in-person demo with us, while you’re at the event:
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References:
[1] Martin, H. (2018) 7 Key Factors for Complying with OSHA's Hearing Conservation Standard. Retrieved from: https://www.mscdirect.com/betterMRO/7-key-factors-complying-oshas-hearing-conservation-standard?
[2] U.S. Department of Labor (2002).Hearing Conservation. Retrieved from: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/osha3074.pdf?
[3] Natarajan N, Batts S, Stankovic KM. Noise-Induced Hearing Loss. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10059082/?
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2 个月Molefe Meshack Mokoena