Product category:
Environmental contamination, noise, dust and fume extraction, sensors
News Release from: Oi Noise | Subject: Oi tool
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 25 January 2007
Oi building sales in construction
Oi Noise revolutionises how noise above the 80 dB level is identified in the workplace.
Large construction companies have embraced the Oi as a tool that enables both the employer and employee to readily identify hazardous noise levels in an easy and affordable way Just pull the pin and listen it is that easy! The inventor of the Oi tool, Jane E
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 16 Sep 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Jemmett MSc.
MIOSH, was also recently adjudicated the winner of the IOSH 2006 Practical Project Award who thought that the Oi was both imaginative and eminently usable.
Until now the only way an employer could identify noise hazards in the workplace was either using the HSE's guesstimate tests or by using an expensive piece of noise measuring equipment/employing someone who has one and knows how to use it! As a safety professional struggling with this problem Jane Jemmett invented a simple but more importantly, cheap way of identifying these noise hazards in the workplace noise 'Oi' emits 80 decibels and If it can't be heard then the surrounding noise is in excess of 80 decibels.
With no training required all that is needed is to activate and listen.
Anyone can now afford and identify situations where their hearing might be at risk.
Exposure to loud noise can cause permanent hearing damage and hearing loss caused by exposure to noise at work continues to be a significant occupational disease.
Recent research estimates that 170,000 people in the UK suffer deafness, tinnitus or other ear conditions as a result of exposure to excessive noise at work.
(Source: Health and Safety Executive 2006) The focus of the new Noise at Work Regulations 2005 is for the employer to take action to manage the risk of noise through good practice and controls instead of getting tied up with exposure calculations.
The latest HSE guidance contains a list of subjective tests that employers can use to make a rough estimate to discover whether they have a noise risk such as: "If conversation at 2 m is possible, but the noise is intrusive for more than about six hours per day the noise level is probably 80 dB or more" .
However, what is intrusive to one person may not be to another, for example a work area radio playing in the background may be intrusive to some workers but enjoyable to others.
Oi solves this problem, by just activating and listening.
If the Oi can't be clearly heard then the background noise will be above 80dB.
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