Seeing and Hearing Better Workplace Outcomes: Why Vision and Audiometry Health Are Critical for Worksite Safety
Proper visual and auditory health are essential components of workplace safety, impacting not just individual workers but the entire workforce's well-being and efficiency.
- By Christopher Sintic, Jon Hansen
- Aug 23, 2024
On the jobsite, a healthy workforce is a safer, more efficient and more effective workforce. However, most preventative measures for workplace safety and health usually focus on reducing musculoskeletal injuries and improving long-term health. Few consider the impact that proper visual and audio acuity can have on the safety of not just the individual but the entire workforce. And the costs of ignoring these critical safety components are becoming increasingly dire.
For the most part, workers and supervisors understand the importance of visual health. Wearing glasses is common, and wearing safety goggles or glasses on most job sites is a standard practice. Though many people may still be hesitant to wear prescription eyeglasses or safety goggles, the cost of not protecting one’s eyes is generally clear to see. No one wants to risk their vision when there are countless dangers to the eye on the jobsite. Unfortunately, what’s not as clear are the impacts that poor vision can have on fellow coworkers and the dangers of poor hearing for individuals and those around them.
Unseen and Unheard Impacts of Poor Audio-Visual Health
On a jobsite, workers rely on each other to keep the entire team safe. Wearing protective equipment, properly preparing with stretching routines, and calling out safety hazards are all part of everyone’s responsibility to ensure the safety of themselves and those around them. Yet, without being able to see properly, workers are not only putting their own safety at risk, but it reduces their ability to protect others. Imagine a machine operator who is unable to judge depth and puts his colleague in harm’s way. It’s an issue that can often be easily solved by using proper eyewear.
When it comes to hearing protection, the risks are just as severe, but significantly fewer people are taking the proper measures to keep themselves and those around them safe. While protective and corrective eyeglasses are common in the workplace just as they are at home, there is still substantial stigma around wearing ear protection. Though manufactured earplugs have been around in some cases for more than 100 years, wearing them on the jobsite — or even at home when operating noisy machinery — has been seen as “uncool.” Sadly, the “uncool” perception surrounding ear protection has cost countless workers at least some portion of their hearing. Not only do hearing aids have a negative perception in the public eye, but those who have poor hearing often tend to isolate and see higher levels of depression as they age. Whether or not many people are aware of it, once hearing is lost, it cannot come back.
Just like with eye protection, proper ear protection serves a dual role. While earplugs or earmuffs help the individual wearing them stay safer, they also can keep those around them a bit safer as well. With hearing loss, spatial awareness can be reduced and gives individuals less time to react to a potential hazard. In fact, a study from 2012 found a positive association between hearing loss and fall risk. It’s up to leaders to ensure that their workforce is taking all the steps necessary to protect their own vision and hearing as well as the safety of those around them.
7 Strategies for Improving Worker Audio-Visual Health
- Follow All OSHA Testing Guidelines
It’s a simple strategy but one that bears repeating. Following through with annual OSHA vision and audio testing guidelines not only keeps your workplace compliant but helps identify any vision or hearing issues your workforce may have. From there, you can provide them with direction on how to correct their vision and/or hearing challenges and reinforce guidance on proper protection.
- Conduct Thorough Pre-Employment Physicals
Pre-employment physicals serve multiple purposes, and vision and audio testing should typically be included. They can identify if, for example, someone experiences color blindness and may have difficulty performing the required job duties. Secondarily, they set a baseline from which future tests are measured. If annual vision or audio tests show that an individual is worsening in either or both areas, medical professionals can discuss the risk of not wearing proper protection and develop a plan for correction or improved protection.
- Explain the Risks
As mentioned, not wearing proper eye and ear protection not only puts the individual’s health at risk, but it puts their fellow workers’ safety at risk too. Sharing with the workforce the dangers of not wearing protection or corrective lenses/hearing aids lets them know that proper audio-visual health — like most aspects of workplace safety — affects everyone around them and requires a full-team effort.
- Put People in Positions to Thrive
The reality is that not everyone will have 20/20 vision (with or without corrective lenses) or perfect hearing. It’s the responsibility of site leadership to put workers in positions where those that have impairments are away from more hazardous spaces. For example, if someone has issues with depth perception and is around large cranes or heavy machinery, putting them in a position where they are on the ground and can still be effective in their role will benefit everyone on site. In all cases, however, mandating that everyone wear their protective eye and ear equipment is critical.
- Introduce Signage and Reminders
Everyone forgets to wear protective equipment from time to time. It happens. Having plenty of signage and other visual cues to remind the workforce to wear protective equipment can be beneficial. Today, many workplaces even introduce signage on the floor, in the bathroom and on the walls to remind workers about the need for vision and hearing protection. Instituting PPE reminders or pep talks as part of pre-shift routines is also a good way to ensure no one forgets the need for protection.
- Set an Example
Let’s face it: if workers see leaders not wearing their eye and ear protection, many will assume it’s not important to the workplace. While the onus for wearing protective equipment — and doing so correctly — is on the individual, setting an example and sharing direct reminders to individuals is part of what being a leader means. While it can seem like pestering, there is no going overboard when it comes to ensuring worker safety.
- Provide Options
If people don’t like something or find it to be uncomfortable, they won’t wear it. Today, there are plenty of different eye and ear protection shapes and sizes. Providing workers with multiple options allows people to find the protection style they’re most comfortable with and leads to higher levels of compliance.
Today, there are no more excuses for workers not to wear proper ear and eye protection. They are key parts of the workplace safety equation and help keep everyone safer on the jobsite.
This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.