Every year, an estimated 22 million workers risk losing all or part of their hearing as a result of workplace noise hazards. Now two government agencies are turning to a group experts for ideas on how to reduce workplace noise: The workers themselves.
“Hear and Now – The Noise Safety Challenge” is a national contest in which workers can submit their ideas for cutting down on workplace noise.
The contest is co-sponsored by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which will select the top 10 submissions. Finalists will then be invited to present their ideas to a panel of judges in Washington, D.C.
Strike It Rich with Noise Reduction Ideas
That panel will be composed of potential investors, representatives of the US Patent and Trademark Office, and administrators from the NIOSH Research to Practice Program, according to an OSHA news release.
Each year, hearing loss disability costs businesses an estimated $242 million in workers’ compensation.
While there is no cash reward for the best idea, if contest participants present cost-effective ideas that could reduce workplace noise significantly, they could face a kind of “Shark Tank” situation in which business people on the judging panel may be willing to invest in their ideas.
Hints for Noise Reduction Ideas
In announcing the contest, OSHA identified three potential areas that contests participants could focus their creativity:
- Technology that enhances employer training and improve effective use of hearing protection
- Technology that alerts workers when hearing protection is not blocking enough noise to prevent hearing loss
- Technology that allows workers to hear important alerts of human voices while remaining protected from harmful noise.
Ideas can be submitted at this government website. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 30. The people submitting the top 10 ideas will be invited to make their presentations on Oct. 27, although OSHA will not pay their transportation or housing costs.
Dangers of Workplace Noise
Exposure to loud noises in the workplace and elsewhere can kill delicate nerve endings in the inner ear. The more exposure workers have to loud noises, the higher the chance of permanent hearing loss that cannot be corrected by surgery or medications.
Even short-term exposure to loud noises can cause a temporary change in hearing or tinnitus, which is a sustained ringing in the ears. Short-term hearing loss will generally go away after a few minutes or hours of leaving the noisy area. But repeated exposure to loud noises can result in permanent tinnitus, hearing loss, or both.