Noise Will Never Bother Me!

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I was auditing a site and was walking past the only area of the plant that was posted for noise. There, just finishing up, was a mechanic stowing his tools for transport back to his shop. He was not wearing hearing protection. From the walkway, I could see that the room had the same sign on three walls indicating that hearing protection was required.

As he exited the room, I asked if I could ask him some safety program questions. Knowing that some programs allow for not wearing hearing protection if time in the area will be less than "X" hours, I asked about the noise signs ( an open ended question ). I was hoping to hear a statement like "We were trained that if we are in there less than four hours in any day that we are not required to wear plugs."

He grinned a bit, nodded at the closest sign and said, "Noise will never bother me!"

I shrugged my shoulders and asked "Why?"

Looking right at me, he said, "I don’t listen to it."

Talk about turning a "deaf" ear during safety training session, sheeez…….

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