The use of ear plugs in a noisy work place is necessary in order to provide the workers with a means of protecting their hearing. Developed countries around the world have established legal requirements in various forms of occupational safety and health regulation. For example in the UK, it is a legal requirement for employers to supply their staff with ear protection if they are exposed to noise of 85dB (decibels) or greater.

The good intentions of these regulations can be undermined by a number of factors. Firstly the ear protection offered by the employers has to be fit for purpose. 

To achieve the noise reduction objective the ear protection needs to bring the level of perceived sound down to below the 85dB level. You should check the recognised rating of the plugs before you buy. There are two rating systems in use. The SNR (single number rating) is the system used within the European Union to indicate the amount of protection offered by a correctly fitted hearing protection device.

An SNR rating of 24, for example, should bring the perceived noise level down from 95dB to 71dB. An employer needs to carry out a noise assessment of the plant and works.

 

The next challenge is to ensure that staff are using the protection continuously when exposed to the excess noise level, and they are unlikely to do so if they find the plugs uncomfortable to wear. Sometime discomfort can be caused by badly fitting plugs. Companies such as Detectamet offer a number of designs; their most popular flanged designs are available in a two of three flanged versions that can be chosen to fit smaller or larger ear canal sizes.

 

Detectamet’s medical grade silicone material is smooth and hypoallergenic, yet there is always the risk that plugs used by a worker with an ear infection will be picked up accidentally and used by another worker transferring the infection from person to person. In the same way a person with an infection in one ear may re-use the contaminated plug in the opposite ear making their absence from work or reduced efficiency twice as likely.

 

As a result, a number of businesses follow a single use policy and dispose of the plugs once they have been used. Detectamet has developed an optional solution that enables staff to re-use the plugs. One red plug (left)  and one blue plug (right) are on a cord that is supplied in a special storage box. The Sonar plugs can be cleaned and sanitised at the end of the shift using a mild antibacterial soap and the holes in the box allow the plugs to be dried by air passing through. The box can be sequentially numbered and when issued to individuals can be recorded.

 

In situations where there is the risk of the cord being caught in equipment the plugs can be used without the cord, or can used on an expandable headband that fits under the chin or behind the head. 

 

Once the choice of re-usable or disposable plug is made it is important that workers know how to use these protective tools, and training them to fit the plugs correctly is fundamental. Each box of the Sonar plugs has an instruction sheet. The box and the plugs also satisfy the requirements of both the EU and US for plastics on contact with food.

 

With the workers hearing protected it is also important to protect a food company’s products from contamination. For this reason Detectamet has not only resolved the hearing protection needs but has added detectability. Should an earplug or part of an ear plug or the connective cord become lost in the workplace and get into the food process it will be identified by a metal detector or an X-ray detection system as the products pass through.

 

For companies preferring to use disposable ear protectors, Detectamet has introduced a fully detectable disposable ear plug that can be bought with or without a detectable connecting cord. These have been tested in accordance with the US ANSI S3 19-1047 and found to comply with an NRR  rating of 32dB. They have also been assessed as meeting the requirements of EN352-2 and are CE-Marked in accordance with the requirements of European Directive 89/686/EEC.