Mobile hearing testing is a great way for employers to ensure they comply with occupational health and safety legislation. It allows them to test their employees without having to send them off-site, or spend their personal time on business affairs. It is also important to remember that mobile hearing testing is only required if there are detrimental levels of sound present at the workplace. However, the question remains: how often should you receive mobile hearing testing?
Legislatively, mobile hearing testing is only required annually. The reason for this is two-fold. Firstly, when hearing testing is done annually, it allows new employees to establish a base-line average for their hearing. Secondly, it allows returning employees to compare the results of their hearing test year-over-year, so that they can see if there are any differences or degradations since their last appointment.
However, sometimes annual mobile hearing tests are insufficient. Circumstances can arise that would require mobile hearing testing to occur at a frequency of every six months. These would include new processes or machinery that increases workers’ potential exposure to high levels of noise. As well, if there was a workplace incident or an employee had an incident where they were exposed to high levels of noise exceeding the occupational exposure limit (OEL) there could be sufficient cause to increase their hearing testing, to see if a change has occurred.
Mobile Hearing Testing Helps Keep Your Employees Protected
In closing, annual hearing testing is an important requirement for employers who have high volumes of sound present at their workplace. Industrial and commercial industries are often the employers required to do this testing, but if you are unsure if mobile hearing testing is required in your workplace, it is important to do a test of the audio levels in your workplace. This will remove the guesswork, and make it easy to know whether you should consult certified and mobile audiometric testing professionals.
Rocky Mountain Mobile Hearing Testing is your locally owned and operated Calgary business. We are committed to providing mobile hearing testing services and other safety tests, to numerous industries and companies in Western Canada. Our services are part of the WorkSafeBC Provider Network, while our sound booths are approved by the CSA. We offer audiometry testing, mask fit testing, custom earplugs, noise measurements, help with implementing a hearing conservation program, and spirometry testing. If you want to improve your workplace, leave it in the hands of our team. Contact us today on (403) 399-4775.
