![]() OSHA’s Hearing Conservation program discuses hearing loss and prevention and outlines regulations for noisy workplaces. In addition to maintaining workplace safety and the hearing health of your valued employees, your company may be responsible for occupational hearing loss. If your work environment subjects workers to a certain level of noise exposure (85 dB or higher), you are required to monitor your employees for hearing loss. For transportation employees regulated by the Department of Transportation (DOT), all DOT physicals will include an audiometry test. This is especially important for hospital staff and other healthcare workers, air traffic controllers, and commercial truck drivers. A potential employee must have a level of hearing that’s adequate to perform tasks without endangering the safety of themselves, co-workers and customers. The ability to hear clearly is a requirement for most jobs. As an employer or hiring manager, you should consider: Job Fitness Pre-employment hearing tests are extremely important for certain workplaces and occupations. ![]() The Importance of a Pre-Employment Hearing Test Pre-employment testing determines the person’s baseline hearing. Since you may be held liable for hearing loss in a noisy work environment, audiometric testing is required if the work environment noise threshold is 85 dB or above. They also do not prohibit your company from making a hearing check mandatory. OSHA does not require employees to take a hearing test. Mild hearing loss is 26-40 dB, moderate loss is 41-55 dB, moderate-to-severe loss is 56-70 dB and profound hearing loss is 71-100 dB. ![]() The normal hearing range is 0 decibels (dB), the audiometric testing baseline, to 25 dB. Hearing exams aren’t pass/fail, but the degree of hearing loss. In those circumstances, you can also monitor the effectiveness of any hearing protection that your company provides, such as earplugs or noise-cancelling earphones. This is a necessity in loud environments where employees may be at risk for hearing loss. This streamlines the process of keeping your employees safe and healthy.Ī baseline audiogram performed before the person is hired can help you regularly monitor any changes in their hearing. From there, you can schedule a hearing check every year of their employment and monitor their test results. If the person is hired, their information becomes their employee record. Through our integrated StaffGlass platform, our business partners can order a pre-employment hearing test for a candidate, schedule the exam, track status and manage tests for all applicants. Health Street offers a wide range of comprehensive occupational health screenings, including audiometric exams. If this applies to your business, we highly recommend a pre-employment hearing test for every applicant. In fact, in workplaces that exceed a specified noise level, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) requires periodic hearing tests. There is another important aspect of audiometry testing before hiring, and that is to establish a baseline for the person’s hearing acuity, which is especially important if they will be working in a noisy environment. Should you require pre-employment hearing tests from your job candidates? An audiometric test ensures that a potential employee will be able to adequately hear so that they are able to perform their tasks accurately and safely, for themselves, their co-workers and customers.
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