Hearing Program for the Coast Guard

Introduction

The subject to noise and hearing-is a topic widely studied in various professions, however, and despite being considered one of the most dangerous and being a fundamental component of national and global economy, few studies, none in our country, dealing with the description of the auditory characteristics of the 'seafarer'. One of the most striking and distinguishing the study of hearing of the offshore fishing for the stock of workers in other industries or occupations in general are the type of working days. On board, the general working conditions are very hard and are paired with periods of daily work around 12 hours navigation periods ranging between 10 and 15 days (fresh fish vessels) with time in the land of 48 hours between tide and tide, and because the ship is at the same time place of rest and sleep, time of exposure to noise is considerably higher than in days of work on land. Consequently, the risk of Noise-induced hearing loss could be higher as well. "The sense of hearing is an essential function for communication between men, sharing information and identifying sounds pleasant and alert in situations of risk. So the deficit is of utmost importance and demand research and prevention necessary to preserve”. The health and work have always been closely linked, while men know the action of noise on your body for centuries, especially when relating certain types of professions with the risk of hearing damage (Humes, 2006).

Discussion

The program aims to develop and implement a comprehensive program of prevention of hearing protection in the workplace. The program will include a description of the duties of the employer, safety and service departments of occupational medicine, as well as algorithm and tools for performing, documenting and verifying the effectiveness of actions taken. About 30 million workers in Europe are exposed to noise which creates the risk of hearing damage. In Poland the figure is an estimated 640 000 people, but it does not take individual farming brings together about 10% of all employees. In our country many years, there are legal instruments which will require employers to take action to minimize occupational risks associated with noise in the workplace. They include the exposure control, reduction of exposure methods and technical and organizational and administrative use of personal protective equipment and medical prophylaxis (Martin, 1986).

Innovative elements of the program in relation to the present:

strengthen the work and communication between the physician-prevention and workplace health and safety services in the assessment of minimal hearing loss caused by noise,

the development of tools for efficient estimation of individual risk of hearing damage, including exposure to toxic (e.g. organic solvents) and other non-business factors, and between individuals that can contribute to hearing damage,

Computerization of the activities of the hearing conservation program.

Developed hearing protection program will be implemented on a pilot basis in selected company / group of employees. The project organized training conferences for physicians providing occupational health services and primary care, workers PIS, PIP ...