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Spécial “ Noise at work 2007 ”
19
Acoustique
&
Techniques n° 49
Barriers to occupational noise management
There was also a significant difference in the overall
perception of barriers between those who felt they had
a hearing loss and those who did not [F (1, 135) =
4,
78, p =
0, 031]. Those who felt they had a hearing loss
perceived barriers to preventative action were less. This
is illustrated in Fig. 2. The average hearing level of people
who felt they did (N =
80) and did not (N =
71) have a
hearing loss was, respectively, 27,4 dB HL (SD 19.5) and
15,3
dB HL (SD 10.5). This can be interpreted as those
who do not have a hearing loss do not perceive noise as
a relevant problem or hazard.
Open question analysis of perceived barriers
There were wide variety of answers to both questions and
Table 2 summarises these responses according to the four
factors from the factor analysis for the closed questions.
The percentage distribution of responses is calculated
based on the number of responses not on the number of
participants. Not all responses could be categorized in this
way hence the category of “other”. Some responses were
difficult to assign to particular factors but all reasonable
attempts were made before assigning difficult responses
to other. Three of the factors derived from the responses
to the nine barrier closed-question items relate well to the
qualitative information provided by the open questions.
The Information factor was not as well represented in
the responses to the open questions and relatively few
respondents (7 %) identified a need for further information
about reducing noise.
To the first question, “What is the main thing that stops
you reducing noise you experience at work
?”, there were
96 responses of which 31 (32
%) referred to hearing
protectors. Responses included
: “not always having
hearing protectors with me”, “I find earmuffs and earplugs
uncomfortable” and tend to say “It’ll be a short time
only…”, and “wearing earmuffs in hot conditions”.
These 31 respondents focused primarily on hearing
protectors, to the exclusion of other factors. The other
65 respondents made a variety of comments ranging from
very negative responses to positive thoughts. Examples
of selected comments are
: “changes outside my scope”
;
“attitude, blasé”
; “most machines have to make noise to
do the job’; “inconvenience”
; “I don’t have the right to tell
people to stop banging things so loudly”
; “nothing really”
;
“myself”
; “identifying main contributors to the site’; and
“complacency of a lifetime of just using machinery”.
Eighteen comments (19 %) concerned machinery, e.g. “lack
of engineering on noise equipment”, “most machines have
to make noise to do the job”, “efficiency of mufflers fitted
to existing machines”. Twelve comments (13 %) related to
people and workplace behavior, e.g., “poor work practices
of other people”, “difficult to rearrange work schedule”, “I
don’t have the right to tell people to stop banging things
so loudly”, and “inconsiderate and noisy employers”. Some
of these comments could also be broadly categorized as
workplace culture. Overall 33 % of responses related to
workplace culture, “nature of the industry and cottonseed
processing plant”, “type of work”, “part of the job”.
Fourteen comments (15 %) referred to inconvenience and
inability to make time, e.g. “lack of making time”, “time
management, “inconvenience”, and “cost/time”. Several
comments indicated that people felt they could not do
anything about the problem themselves (i.e., low perceived
self-efficacy), for example, “out of my control”, “not in a
position to do anything” and “changes outside my scope”.
The second question, “If there was one thing that could
assist you in reducing the noise you work in what would it
be
?”, again elicited a wide variety of responses with 46 out
of the 99 written comments (46 %) specifying the use of
hearing protectors as the main solution. Thirty comments
(30
%) referred to management or changes that would
need to be implemented by management
: eg “remove
all noise, isolation of noisy equipment, managing change
in the plant“, “money”, “my OHS officer, “ban the loud
playing of radios on work sites”, “change alarm bells to
a flashing light system”, “replacing machinery with quieter
equipment”, “more isolation of the plant”, “removing noise
source” and “separate area for noisy work”. Examples of
negative replies were “don’t really know” and “retire”.
Overall the combined results of the open and closed
questions indicate that people knew that noise causes
hearing loss, would like more information but still see
hearing protectors as the main solution. A number of
participants had the misconception that hearing loss was
something that only happens to people with sensitive
ears. This is consistent with an optimistic bias [12]
(Weinstein
: 1986).
Factor
Q1:
What is the main thing that stops
you reducing noise you experience at work?
Q2:
If there was one thing that could assist you in
reducing the noise you work in what would it be?
Average
%
Hearing protectors
30 %
46 %
38 %
Information
7 %
7 %
7 %
Culture
33 %
2 %
18 %
Management
8 %
30 %
19 %
Other*
22 %
15 %
19 %
Note: * Not all responses were able to be categorised according to the four factors.
Response % is related to the numberof responses to the open questions note the overall number of participants.
Table 2
: An approximate distribution of responses to open ended questions compared to factors derived from the analysis of closed
questionnaire responses