Hear this!
For the month of March, our safety focus was Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). We believe that hearing loss is 100% preventable, through successful application of engineering controls and hearing conversation programs.
Our focus has been to raise awareness, providing information on what hearing loss is, how it occurs and how we can prevent it.
The Ranger Drilling crew have participated in training sessions to improve their knowledge on noise and hearing loss. We commenced training by providing our team with a good understanding of the definition of sound and the difference between sound and noise as follows:
“Sound” is a type of energy made by vibrations. When any object vibrates, it causes movement in the air particles. These particles then bump into the particles close to them, which makes them vibrate too, and causing them to bump into more air particles. This movement is called sound waves and the process keeps going until they run out of energy.
“Noise” can be regarded as loud, unpleasant, unwanted or damaging sounds.
Prolonged exposure to high levels of noise can result in permanent and irreversible damage to the ability to hear.
The only effective preventative measure is to control noise exposure before hearing loss occurs.
The perception of noise is subjective. Factors such as the magnitude, characteristics, duration, and time of occurrence may affect one’s subjective impression of the noise.
For instance, some people might like classical music, others not, if the music is played loudly at two in the morning, even those who enjoy classical music may think its noise.
Hearing abuse often occurs unintentionally. We believe that through the implementation of training programs, a greater understanding of sound and noise will be achieved, resulting in greater awareness and prevention of hearing loss amongst the team.
In addition to the training, we conducted companywide audits, noise assessments on noisy equipment, and audiograms in an effort to reduce or control your personal exposure and the impact of noise.
