The Finishing Trades Institute International (IFTI) is pleased to announce a new and exciting partnership with OHD - a company we have had the pleasure of working with since discovering them while researching ‘best practices’ for the fit testing of our members. Since that initial meeting, they have demonstrated a history of exceptional value and commitment to the health and well-being of those working in the construction industry.
In 1995, a team of young engineers at Cirrus Research set to work on revolutionising the design and functionality of noise dosimeters. Their hard work and tireless dedication to the protection of people’s hearing led them to design the doseBadge, which has now become synonymous with personal noise exposure measurement. The process of designing the doseBadge wasn’t easy or without challenge, as the Cirrus engineers had to develop something that recorded all the necessary data, whilst ensuring that the person wearing the equipment wasn’t disturbed, and that the equipment itself complied with the Noise At Work regulations, in addition to being low cost, reliable, lightweight, tamper-proof and compliant with the acoustic standard. Some may have thought “why bother?”, but there was a recognition within the Cirrus team that dosimeters, at the time were very unreliable, cumbersome, liable to tampering and potentially dangerous, as the microphone cable could easily have been caught in heavy industrial machinery, causing serious injuries to those wearing them.
Ear protection isn’t the most stylish or fashionable thing to wear and it can certainly impede your ability to have a conversation. Many people see and read the signs around industrial areas that highlight the importance of wearing PPE, but many people chose to ignore their warnings and carry on with their jobs without wearing any sort of protection. Wearing hearing protection is incredibly important in order to prevent noise-induced hearing loss and other noise-related health conditions, and it’s important for employers to ensure their workers are wearing the correct PPE to ensure that they are not liable for any injury-at-work claims in the future. Read how the doseBadge5 from OHD helped a group of factory workers in Ireland understand the importance of wearing hearing protection in our latest case study.
In March 2018, after a five-year process involving more than 60 countries, a brand new international safety and occupational health standard, ISO, was published. The standard works to set a new benchmark in worldwide occupational safety by providing effective, real-world solutions for worker safety. On a global scale, the new ISO standard will continue to shape the health and safety profession and directly impact how all organizations manage their health and safety programs through hazard controls and risk reduction.
Work is dangerous, and industrial hygienists know that danger is not a finite resource—it has to be stamped out wherever it’s found. When workers are protected and respirators fit correctly, your workers live longer, healthier lives.
But to ensure proper fit-testing, you need a plan and the right tools. The problem is that fit-testing can be hard, frustrating, and expensive. There are four main problems people face while fit-testing respirators:
Each time you use your sound level meter, it should be calibrated using an acoustic calibrator. This can help you ensure that your instrument is measuring correctly and that you are complying with the requirements of any standards, regulations or guidelines that you are working to.
Fit-testing has changed over the years. For a while, there was only one accepted technology and method for testing the fit of masks. Those processes have changed (for the better) as we provide an OSHA and ISO-approved method for fit-testing. Our patented controlled negative pressure (CNP) technology lets you perform a simple fit test in only 3 minutes!
When making measurements to estimate the noise exposure of a person at work, you need to ascertain the equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (LAeq) that represents the noise the person is exposed to during the working day. You also need to ascertain the maximum C-weighted peak sound pressure level or levels to which the person is exposed.
If your organization is like most, you rarely conduct a one-off fit test. Instead, you block out several days/weeks out of the year to test every respirator, every required employee in your organization. Efficient testing is critical because you are pulling essential people out of their normal job and...
Here at OHD, we strive to provide exceptional customer service for you and your employees. Whether it be fit testing, noise monitoring programs or any of our other safety products, we have deemed it our goal to inform, guide and protect you all along the way.
