Hearing protection

Key points

1. 1Use the shout test: if you have to raise your voice to talk to someone an arm's length away, it is too loud. Put on hearing protection.
2. 2Roll foam earplugs into a thin tube, pull your ear up and back, and push the plug in. Hold it for a few seconds while it expands.
3. 3Earmuffs must seal around your ears. Hair, hoodies, or safety glasses arms under the cushion let noise in, so adjust them.
4. 4Keep protection in for the whole time the noise is on. Pulling it out for even a few minutes during loud work cuts the protection a lot.
5. 5Do not use cotton, tissue, or music earbuds as hearing protection. They do not block enough noise, and music adds more.
6. 6Check your earplugs and muffs before use. Throw out dirty or flattened plugs, and replace muffs with cracked cushions; ask your foreman for new ones.
7. 7Protect the people around you too. Warn coworkers before you start a loud tool, and keep compressors and generators away from where people work when possible.

Talk it over

• What are the loudest tools or machines on this site right now, and where do you hear them?
• Have you noticed ringing in your ears or muffled hearing after a shift? What were you working on?
• What makes it hard to keep your hearing protection on, and what would help?

Also in the other language: Protección auditiva

Official sources

• 29 CFR 1926.52 — Occupational noise exposureecfr.gov
• 29 CFR 1926.101 — Hearing protectionecfr.gov

More toolbox talks

• Holes and floor openings
• Working around heavy equipment
• Heat illness prevention