Headphones and the Workplace
1/27/2020
Ever since Apple came out with the iPod, people have been taking their favorite songs with them wherever their hearts’ desire. Well, actually this whole portable music craze goes back to the transistor radio in the 1960’s where a person could easily carry a radio in one hand – however, they were still subject to radio station playlists and commercials. So, the real mobile music revolution didn’t take effect until SONY came out with the Walkman. Thus, people could listen to the music of their choice at their own discretion without imposing their personal tastes on others.
And while today people are walking around with ear buds or headphones attached to their ears in food stores and malls and well, just about everywhere, we have now seen this cultural phenomenon in the workplace. OSHA has been seeing more of this practice as a way for workers to block out the noise created from heavy equipment and daily machine operations as they believe listening to music drowns out the background created in the workplace.
Spokespersons for OSHA have stated that “…a portable music player is not a substitute for hearing protection…”
However, OSHA admitted that it has no regulations that specifically ban the use of headphones. As a result, the use of headphones by workers on a construction site may be permissible at the discretion of management unless – according to OSHA -such use creates or augments other hazards apart from noise.
Even in the absence of a specific regulation, employers still could face enforcement actions if OSHA finds that they have violated the General Duties Clause, which requires all employers to maintain safe workplaces.
Meanwhile, a number of organizations that have questioned OSHA about headphone use, noting that some of the headphones are equipped with a built-in volume limiter and are marked as “OSHA approved” for use in the workplace.
The fact is, OSHA “does not register, certify, approve, or otherwise endorse commercial or private sector entities, products or services. Therefore, any such claims by a manufacturer are misleading.
OSHA has stated that the reason for not allowing employees to listen to music while working should be crystal clear, as listening to music may produce a safety hazard by masking environmental sounds that need to be heard, especially on active construction sites where attention to moving equipment, heavy machinery, vehicle traffic and safety warning signals are necessary.
In addition, listening to music in the workplace can cause workers to lose their focus on their work tasks. This is typically referred to as distracted behavior. And whether you’re operating a piece of heavy equipment or merely working around such machinery, by doing anything other than being focused on the task-at-hand, such behavior can lead to a most unfortunate accident.
OSHA does have a hearing protection standard which requires that hearing protective devices (i.e. ear plugs and muffs) be provided by the employer and used wherever it is necessary to reduce noise levels below acceptable limits (29 CFR 1910.95). These standards for acceptable exposure limits range from eight hours a day for 90 decibels to a quarter hour or less per day for 115 decibels (Note: for those of us that work at DOE sites, we must comply with the 85-dBA threshold limit value for an eight-hour time-weighted average).
Meanwhile, by turning the volume to maximum, a person can be subjected to noise levels that significantly exceed the OSHA standards – much like being at a music festival where noise levels can reach 140 dBA. Therefore, the argument that listening to music can remove the noise hazard within the workplace can be discredited.
So, whether or not OSHA specially addresses headphone use for listening to music in the workplace, it would seem fairly evident that this practice is not conducive for a safe and healthful work environment…
Before anything else, preparation is the key to success