The 2003 Australian Burden of Disease and Injury study estimate 11,600-16,500 new cases of Occupational Noise Induced Hearing Loss in Australia in 2003 alone
Occupational Noise Induced Hearing Loss is one of the most common occupational diseases in Australia and around the world.
(Groothoff 2007;Nelson et al. 2005).
All About Hearing complies with:
The National Work Health & Safety Act
State and Territory Occupational Health & Mining Regulations
Australian Standard for Occupational Audiometry (AS/NZS1269)
Our Clinicians are accredited by WorkCover to perform baseline, full audiological and monitoring assessments.
As of 1st January 2014 the new harmonised Work Place Health and Safety Act of 2011 is in full effect.
Under the Act a person conducting a business or undertaking must provide hearing assessments for any worker who is frequently required to use personal hearing protection to protect the worker from hearing loss associated with noise that exceeds the exposure standards.
A baseline hearing assessment must now be conducted within 3 months of an employee commencing work and monitoring tests are required every 2 years thereafter. High-risk groups require annual monitoring assessments.
The maximum penalties set down in the act for failure to comply with the requirements for audiometric testing are $6,600 for individuals and $33,000 for corporations.
Safe Work Australia have developed a mode Code of Practice on how noise affects hearing, how to identify and access exposure to noise and how to control health and safety risks arising from hazardous noise.
At All About Hearing our Clinicians are accredited by WorkCover to perform baseline, full audiological and monitoring assessments.
Baseline Assessments – This is the first assessment conducted within 3 months of a new employee commencing work. This assessment will be valid for 10 years and all subsequent monitoring assessments will be compared against it to allow us to check for shifts in each employees hearing levels. To allow a true baseline result this assessment is conducted after the employee has been in relative quiet for 16 hours prior to assessment. After 10 years a new Baseline Assessment will be conducted and subsequent monitoring will be compared against the new baseline.
Monitoring Assessments – Monitoring assessments are conducted every 12-24 months and should be conducted during or shortly after a work shift with exposure to noise. The reason for this is that exposure to noise can cause temporary reduction in an employee’s hearing. These temporary reductions in hearing are a clear indicator that continued exposure to the same noise levels are likely to result in permanent hearing loss. This type of monitoring gives the employee an opportunity to place greater importance on their use of hearing protection. It also gives businesses the opportunity to evaluate their noise management practices.
As part of All About Hearing’s WorkPlace Hearing Program we also provide training and guidance to each employee on their use of personal hearing protection. We ask that each employee bring his or her hearing protection to the assessment appointment to be checked.
We also offer Custom Made Noise Protection Plugs, which are individually made and fitted. This requires our Hearing Clinician to take an ear impression of each ear and then the fitting is done at a subsequent appointment. Instruction on use, insertion, management and cleaning is given. Custom Made Noise Protection Plugs are $90 plus fitting/consultation fee.