by the Professional Power Tool Guide
When you are used to working on the construction site day after day, you can become very comfortable with the sights and sounds of big equipment working. If you are used to putting your head down and working all day every day, you should know that you might be at risk for damaging your ears and ability to hear as clearly as you should. Even though you might feel like after a few hours you can’t even hear the work that’s going on all around you, your ears are still being exposed to stressful levels of sound that could potentially harm your hearing. Ear protection to protect your hearing is essential for workplace safety.
Have you ever gotten home from a long day at work to feel like your ears were constantly ringing? This is a good indication that you are being exposed to high levels of noise pollution. If you were working on a job site that had you working in tight quarters with asbestos or other airborne particulates, you would never head into the project without wearing safety goggles and a high quality dust mask or respirator. This is only good practice so that you can get the job done safely, and ear protection to protect your hearing is just as important.
If you’re not sure whether you need to protect you hearing, you should think about the types of tools that you are working with or around for extended periods of time every day. Jackhammers, power drills, routers and buzz saws all produce high levels of close range noise pollution, and if you are working around these tools you should be aware that your ear drums are being put under a lot of stress repeatedly. High pressure and high frequencies are the enemies of a healthy ear drum.
If you think that you’ve already been damaged by noise pollution on the job site, you should have your hearing examined by a qualified professional. If they can tell that some damage has been done, they will not doubt require that you use ear protection to protect your hearing in the future. This can mean purchasing some high quality ear muffs or plugs that are designed for industrial use. There are plenty of brands of ear protection products available on the market, and you can shop around until you find the style and level of protection that is best for you.
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