< ba) ba | THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER Members of Local 1-367 IWA, Haney, employed at the Millstream Timber Company, Mission, were recently awarded the Esko Trophy by the Truck Loggers’ Association for working 90,000 continuous hours without a compens- able accident, Regional and Local IWA officers wish to commend the crew CANYON CREEK PLANER CREW, VALEMOUNT JOINT SAFETY MEETING AT CLEARWATER ~for this excellent safety woods foreman Ed. Staber, who has received high praise from Local Union officers for his keen dedication to safety. achievement. On the extreme right of the picture is” SAFETY DIRECTOR INSPECTS SOUTHERN INTERIOR OPERATIONS By ANDY SMITH Regional Safety Director On a recent tour of Local 1-417 covering the operations at Salmon Arm, Kamloops, Savona, and up the North Thompson River to Vale- mount, as well as the opera- tions in Merritt, it was most gratifying to find the equip- ment well maintained al- though certain unsafe prac- tices were observed and brought to the attention of management. Also, the wear- ing of personal protective equipment is a matter that the safety committees should check up on. Hearing Protection The wearing of hearing pro- tection in high noise level areas is becoming more and more important as further knowledge of the damage to the ear is becoming available and although our industry has always been associated with high noise levels it has not been until relatively recently . that the adverse effect of sound (unwanted sound is called noise) has become a real problem, and it has in- creased as mass production and heavy mechanization has progressed. The ear, that mechanism which is capable of such di- versity, is a delicate, compli- cated structure. It is divided into three parts — the exter- nal ear, the middle ear, and the internal ear, and any noise level above 85 decibels over a long period of time is dam- aging to the ear. However, noise exposure cannot be as- sessed by noise measurements alone. The effect of continuous exposure to a given noise level differs from the effects of ex- posure interrupted by periods of reduced noise level. There- fore, it will be necessary to know how the exposure to noise is distributed in time throughout a representative or typical work day. Work Life Also, before the assessment of noise exposure is complete, one must determine the ex- pected total exposure in time during a work life. It would appear one of the most diffi- cult problems associated with a study of noise exposure is that of devising a method of describing and categorizing in a meaningful way the multi- tudinous types of noise expos- ures encountered. However, I do not think that we can af- ford to wait until a method is devised of indexing noise exposure from measurements of the physical effects. Major Factors The relation of noise expos- ure to hearing loss is not well understood, although it is known that four major factors of noise exposure are impor- tant to the production of hear- ing loss and these are (1) over-all noise level, (2) fre- quency composition of the noise, (3) duration and time distribution of the noise ex- posure during a work day, and (4) the total duration of noise exposure during an ex- pected work life. While distribution of ex- posure time and total time of exposure are important to the noise problem, it is important to know whether the daily ex- posure is continuous or inter- mittent. Intermittent exposure appears to produce less hear- ing loss than continuous ex- posure of the same total time, even though the intermittent exposures are accompanied by considerably higher over-all noise levels. * Complex Problems Until far more study and information is available on this very complex problem, we should be striving to es- tablish stop-gap measures by insisting on careful acoustical design of new machines, modi- fication of design of machines now in use, proper upkeep and repair of equipment, muff- ling of exhausts, and probable changes in methods of pro- cessing, increasing the dis- tance between the work area and the source of noise, con- struction of a barrier between the work area and the source of the noise, sound-proofing work areas to reduce vibra- tion, placing equipment on vi- bration mounts, possibly changing job schedules or ro- tating personnel; but until these methods are put into practice the use of personal protective equipment is- the only thing available. Ear Protection Ear protectors, in effect, re- duce noise levels at the inner ear. Ear protection is particu- larly important when noise exposures cannot be controll- ed adequately by environ- mental changes. The two types of equipment are ear plugs and ear muffs, Ear plugs are designed to close the ear ca- nal; they may be made of rubber, neoprene, or plastic. In general, ear plugs should be made of non-porous pliable material, never hard material, Contrary to popular opinion, dry cotton affords little or no protection in high noise areas, Material and shape also have little to do with the effective. ness of commercially available plugs, except as they find ac. ceptance by users.