What's your Headphone Policy?

[kcollinsdesign]

Yea well.. I do my job well...Id rather someone repeat themselves then me have to subject myself to a loud environment that is potentially damaging to my ears permanently. If the boss pays for my health insurance, then I'll consider it, but until that day comes, Ima work how I work because I do it well.. It may be selfish, but its inconsiderate of others to subject their employees to negative consequences of being in their shop for their profit.
And i feel the same way about non ventilated environments. The printers I work on are in a small room, and there is not much ventillation. So should I make it an inconvenience to my boss by reporting them to OSHA? (Im being hyperbolic) but when trucks are being pulled in and out of the shop and I have to breath in diesel exhaust fumes, or fumes from rapid remover, etc... Should I just have no bearing on that as an employee at all?
Subject me to all of these external things that are damaging to my health, and I am going to do EVERYTHING that minimizes that. If thats selfish, then take it up with a lawyer. Too many business's don't actually care about the health of their employees, that stuff needs to stop.

Wearing hearing protection is different from listening to audio on headphones. Ear protection is advised and encouraged. Being distracted by listening to music or a podcast is a different animal.

When hearing protection is properly fitted, normal conversations and environmental sounds can still be heard.

When being distracted by music or other programmed audio sources, production is compromised. Focus and analytical ability decreases. Environmental noises are canceled out and conversations cannot happen until the earbuds or headphones are removed.

I suppose if you don't care about production efficiency, aren't worried about safety, and don't want to be bothered by talking to anyone, headphones are fine.

 

[StarSign]

To be clear this is not about hearing protection. Everyone has access to noise blocking safety equipment in the production area. It's all about the focus, are you so caught up in what you are listening to that you can't hear what is going on. I am ok with the one ear only policy as long as the work is getting done correctly and timely. Thanks for all of the input.

 

[TheAngryCanadian]

my old shop was so noisy I wore headphones all the time just to help lower the shop noise volume . 50/50 listening to something. Our shop a Compressor was always running and various machines on. the guys on the channel letter side always had a soccer game blasting on the radio or radio blasting in general.

 

[Johnny Best]

Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Keep Listening | Headphone & Earbud Safety — Hearing Health Foundation

Wearing earbuds that blast 100 decibels into the ear canal—and the volume can reach that and louder on many devices—can permanently damage the delicate hair cells in your ears, in just 15 minutes. Once destroyed these cells are gone forever.

hearinghealthfoundation.org

 

[Think713]

Wearing hearing protection is different from listening to audio on headphones. Ear protection is advised and encouraged. Being distracted by listening to music or a podcast is a different animal.

When hearing protection is properly fitted, normal conversations and environmental sounds can still be heard.

When being distracted by music or other programmed audio sources, production is compromised. Focus and analytical ability decreases. Environmental noises are canceled out and conversations cannot happen until the earbuds or headphones are removed.

I suppose if you don't care about production efficiency, aren't worried about safety, and don't want to be bothered by talking to anyone, headphones are fine.

Sure, but i am someone who is aware of product availability and many headphones just wearing them audio or not being pumped through them provides at least a 10db reduction in noise. Putting most work instances at a safe level. You can even buy shooters headphones that have active awaresness and have up to 25db in reduction. So while you guys are arguing the minutia i still stand on my position. And no I don't really care to have conversations with people. Im here to do a job. And I do my job. I rarely have trouble hearing what I am doing.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Cause of this thread I tried my noise cancelling earbuds when hanging a billboard the other day cause the noise off the freeway gets annoying. I prefer the earplugs. Something about the noise cancelling makes my head feel heavy.

 

[Think713]

Cause of this thread I tried my noise cancelling earbuds when hanging a billboard the other day cause the noise off the freeway gets annoying. I prefer the earplugs. Something about the noise cancelling makes my head feel heavy.

I think if i were more on the sign side of things, I would absolutely agree with this. It just makes more sense. I don't personally have any noise cancelling earbuds but IDK how they even sound. But that makes sense. They are actively pumping in sound to cancel out whats already being heard. So it would indeed have an affect. Not to mention blue tooth earbuds are not great for your to be wearing anyway. I use wired headphones. I no longer use bluetooth earbuds because there is science coming out that they damage the myelin sheeth in your brain. Cause your brain to be immediately subjected to electromagnetic radiation. Danny Jones had a brain surgeon on his podcast talking about it. So any extended bluetooth earbud use is not good. While working hanging a sign, I could see it being an issue.

 

[Think713]

https://us.loopearplugs.com/?country=US. This is a great product. Anyone here could benefit from these in a variety of situations. They are ear pro, not headphones.

 

[flyplainsdrifta]

*pops popcorn*

Smoke_Jaguar
Not an earbud, but had a freak accident where a keyring got caught in between the vaccuum table, and the y axis gantry. 3 month old digitech. Just big enough to wedge in between the tables where they meet. Jammed up the track and had to get them out to replace the track hardware and refit the area with new rails so it would work again. My brother felt horrible and now never has his keys in his pocket. Lesson learned.

 

[Think713]

Smoke_Jaguar
Not an earbud, but had a freak accident where a keyring got caught in between the vaccuum table, and the y axis gantry. 3 month old digitech. Just big enough to wedge in between the tables where they meet. Jammed up the track and had to get them out to replace the track hardware and refit the area with new rails so it would work again. My brother felt horrible and now never has his keys in his pocket. Lesson learned.

That sounds like an absolute nightmare.

 

[flyplainsdrifta]

That sounds like an absolute nightmare.

It most definitely was. People at Digitech were great about it and were right out in under 48 hours to fix it. Literally like 1/16th of the keyring was in the channel but just enough to throw it. Not the worst thing in the world, but a costly lesson. Keep dangly bits and loose tiny items away from everything expensive. Empty your pockets before operating.

 

[Think713]

It most definitely was. People at Digitech were great about it and were right out in under 48 hours to fix it. Literally like 1/16th of the keyring was in the channel but just enough to throw it. Not the worst thing in the world, but a costly lesson. Keep dangly bits and loose tiny items away from everything expensive. Empty your pockets before operating.

And rudimentary that advice sounds, it makes perfect sense. Thanks for the story. Definitely makes me think about a lot of what if's with our cnc table.

 

[Fechin]

I find using the induction headset is least imposing. I can hear the environment around me, they're low profile, they don't make much external noise to bother others, and they have a button on them to quickly pause whatever is playing.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I think if i were more on the sign side of things, I would absolutely agree with this. It just makes more sense. I don't personally have any noise cancelling earbuds but IDK how they even sound. But that makes sense. They are actively pumping in sound to cancel out whats already being heard. So it would indeed have an affect. Not to mention blue tooth earbuds are not great for your to be wearing anyway. I use wired headphones. I no longer use bluetooth earbuds because there is science coming out that they damage the myelin sheeth in your brain. Cause your brain to be immediately subjected to electromagnetic radiation. Danny Jones had a brain surgeon on his podcast talking about it. So any extended bluetooth earbud use is not good. While working hanging a sign, I could see it being an issue.

it's not the same as earplugs. they work great on a plane, it counteracts the sounds of the engine very well.

 

[RabidOne]

Smoke_Jaguar
Not an earbud, but had a freak accident where a keyring got caught in between the vaccuum table, and the y axis gantry. 3 month old digitech. Just big enough to wedge in between the tables where they meet. Jammed up the track and had to get them out to replace the track hardware and refit the area with new rails so it would work again. My brother felt horrible and now never has his keys in his pocket. Lesson learned.

Back in my offset days we had a head pressman drop a wrench into a running 29" Heidelberg Speedmaster. That was a very expensive accident.
As for hearing, we allow ear buds throughout the shop.