If your safety management role involves overseeing landscaping professionals, you should familiarize yourself with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations on noise exposure limits for general industry professionals. Be aware of the particulars and take the appropriate steps to help workers protect themselves from hearing damage. Here is what you should know about OSHA noise standards and stipulations. 

Understanding the Hearing Conservation Program Threshold

As a safety professional, it can be challenging to know when overall noise exposure is considered dangerous and what noise levels require preventive measures in the workplace.  

Assessing the environment and the scope of someone’s role is a good starting point. People using motorized equipment for large portions of their workdays are probably at a higher risk of future hearing problems than landscapers who primarily use manual tools.

The OSHA hearing protection requirements mandate that employers implement hearing conservation programs for workers exposed to noises at or above 85 decibels averaged over eight hours at work or a time-weighted average of the same period. These initiatives aim to prevent loss, help people preserve their hearing ability, and give workers the education and equipment needed to protect themselves. 

Strategies may include: 

• Providing appropriate protection and requiring workers to use it when operating equipment. 
• Purchasing quieter machines that perform well while reducing damage risks.
• Teaching workers to recognize the early signs of hearing loss and encouraging them to seek medical attention should they notice them.
• Altering landscapers’ workdays so they spend fewer prolonged periods using noisy equipment.

Your workplace may already require landscaping professionals to take specific safety measures, such as wearing gloves and lace-up boots while working. Those steps can prevent accidents or make incidents less severe. Hearing protection is similar. If the work exposes a landscaper to a loud, potentially dangerous sound, accessories such as earplugs or protective earmuffs keep them safe.

Building Your Hearing Protection Program 

As you consider the potential safeguards mentioned above and how to implement them, become familiar with OSHA regulations regarding hearing protection programs. 

Requirements include: 

• Offering employees free annual hearing exams.
• Measuring workplace noise levels.
• Giving workers hearing protection.
• Evaluating the suitability of existing hearing protection measures.
• Holding hearing protection training sessions.

Since many landscapers work on their clients’ properties, some workplace noise measurements may be difficult to obtain. That is particularly true if the environment has numerous variables. However, the NIOSH Sound Level Meter app is one of the easiest ways to meet hearing protection program requirements. It is a free product for iOS devices that is accurate to within ± 2 dBA and allows people to measure sounds with external or device-based microphones. 

Seeking Opportunities for Improvement

In addition to evaluating noise hazards and control measures, consider other ways to improve workflows, reduce ear-related dangers and provide benefits. 

Some hearing protectors sync with smartphones, allowing people to take phone calls without removing them. This helps wearers use the accessories throughout the workday without removing them. The alternative is that someone may need to remove conventional earplugs to answer phone calls, potentially forgetting to replace them after the conversation or losing them altogether.  

Another possibility is having landscapers use remote-controlled mowers. Some conventional commercial machines reach 90 decibels, which is as loud as a rock concert. However, someone who can control the equipment remotely can stay at safer distances from it and the resulting noise, helping them protect their hearing. 

Relatedly, landscapers using push mowers may find them physically taxing. Vibrating equipment can damage a user’s shoulders, neck and hands in a short time. However, remote-controlled products usually allow people to move them with joysticks, eliminating the dangers of prolonged vibrations. 

Since safety managers may not experience landscapers’ daily tasks, they may not immediately consider the associated dangers and ways to reduce them. Employee feedback is essential for discovering where growth opportunities exist and which measures are already working well.  

Providing Access to Hearing Tests for Workers

People regularly hear loud but brief sounds. For example, ambulance sirens can be as loud as 140 decibels, but most individuals only experience them in passing. The overall effects can be much more damaging for those who live or work near hospitals. The same is true for landscaping equipment operators. Forgetting to wear earplugs while mowing a small yard at home will probably not cause permanent damage. However, landscapers who use motorized tools for hours and multiple days may experience negative effects. 

Teaching workers about the signs of hearing loss can help them become more proactive. These signs include: 

• Ringing in the ears.
• Having trouble understanding speech.
• An inability to hear high-pitched sounds.
• Pain or a feeling of fluid in the ear.
• Needing to use the TV or phone at higher volumes. 

OSHA’s hearing protection program requirements include offering annual hearing tests, so consider how you can make attending these checks as easy as possible for workers. A program in Singapore recently expanded its hearing screening facilities with mobile clinics that do not require people to only get tests in soundproofed rooms. Decision-makers made this change after realizing a lack of accessibility prevented some people from getting the tests.

If someone can only get screened for hearing damage by going to a hospital or doctor’s office, they may decide against it unless they are experiencing bothersome symptoms. Most people dislike disrupting their routines but are more likely to consent to checks if they are convenient. 

Some hearing test providers bring mobile vans to workplaces. Safety managers can consider renting one of these vans to allow their landscapers to get checked with minimal hassle.   

Managing Noise in Landscaping Operations

OSHA’s standards require you to maintain acceptable noise levels in the workplace by enacting the relevant protective measures. Although the regulators provide flexibility when it comes to how to achieve that goal, they stipulate the various actions required in a hearing protection program. 

Ultimately, keeping landscaping equipment operators’ noise exposure levels under the 85-decibel threshold can reduce your safety burdens while protecting workers’ hearing.