Hearing protector fit testing with off-shore oil-rig inspectors in Louisiana and Texas.
William J Murphy, Christa L Themann, Taichi K Murata
PMID 27414471WHAT IT FOUND
Fit testing found many oil-rig inspectors could not reach the needed 25 dB earplug protection with their usual protectors.
Retraining and different earplugs helped most reach it, but not all.
Key findings
01In 2012, 30 of 75 workers did not achieve the 25-dB PAR on their initial fit test, but 68 of 75 eventually achieved it.
02In 2013, 38 of 86 workers did not initially achieve the 25-dB PAR, but 73 of 86 eventually achieved at least 25 dB.
03Among 35 workers tested in both years, 32 reached the 25-dB target in 2012, but in 2013, 17 reached above 25 dB and 18 did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
This was a field fit-testing program, not a trial that compared fit testing with no fit testing, so it cannot show that fit testing prevented hearing loss. Some workers who failed the initial test were not retested because of time constraints or personal choice, so the final success rates do not cover every worker. The headphones, operators, and threshold instructions changed between 2012 and 2013, so differences between years are hard to interpret. Background noise was monitored only in 2012, so room noise may have affected some 2013 threshold measurements. The 25-dB target was based on an assumed worst-case exposure of 110 dBA, not each worker's measured exposure.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that fit testing guarantees adequate protection. Some workers never reached the 25-dB target, and some who reached it in one year did not reach it the next.