Protect Your Hearing Now – You’ll Thank Yourself Later
With simultaneous activity and the use of heavy equipment on Gaines and Company’s site development projects, it is important for employees to protect their hearing when loud noises could be present.
October is National Protect Your Hearing Month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), about 51% of all workers in construction have been exposed to hazardous noise. Of those workers, 52% admit to not wearing hearing protection. As a result, 14 of every 100 construction workers have hearing difficulty.
The good news? Hearing loss can be prevented by wearing hearing protection. Site development experts at Gaines and Company are diligent about wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) when hazardous noise is present —no exceptions.
In case you forget from high school biology, time for a little lesson about how our ears work:
Sound waves pass through the outer ear to the ear drum, which magnifies sound through vibrations. These vibrations travel through fluid in a part of the inner ear called the cochlea. The cochlea has thousands of tiny hairs that help turn sound vibrations into electrical signals, which are transmitted to the brain as sound.
Bottom line — if the tiny hairs that indicate sound in your inner ears get damaged, there’s no way to “un-damage” them. The only way to fix your hearing is by not damaging them in the first place. One way we can do this is by wearing hearing protection when around loud noises, even if the noise is just in short bursts.
Image Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/hearingloss/index.html
Construction Sites are Noisy
Let’s face it: From equipment and tools to breaking up dirt and alarms, construction sites are noisy. So how do we at Gaines and Company make sure our workers aren’t exposing themselves to hearing injuries?
“We look out for each other. It’s part of our safety culture. It’s the Gaines way!” said Safety Director Dominic Pope.
Gaines and Company regularly discusses how to incorporate safety into everyday tasks during daily tool box talks, safety stand downs, and risk assessments. We not only keep each other safe, but we also recognize employees who go above and beyond promoting safe work practices – including properly wearing required PPE – with our Safety Excellence Achievement Award.
Gaines and Company employee wears ear protection on a storm water management project.
“Production and safety go hand-in-hand at Gaines and Company,” said Safety Director Dominic Pope. “Our crews are what drive this safety culture. They won’t start work until everyone has proper hearing protection in. They look out for each other.”
This October and all throughout the year, join Gaines and Company crews by protecting your ears from noise damage. Protect your hearing now – you’ll thank yourself later!
Gaines and Company is a full-service grading and excavation company with offices in Maryland and North Carolina. The organization has nearly 70 years of experience in underground utilities, grading and excavating, sediment and erosion controls, and road work. Gaines and Company delivers safe, reliable, turnkey site development services in Maryland, North Carolina, Washington D.C., and Delaware on time and within budget.
