Risk assessment of recordable occupational hearing loss in the mining industry

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the hearing loss risk in different sectors and subunits in the mining industry and to identify associated occupations, in an attempt to locate gaps between hearing conservation efforts and hearing loss risks.Design: Descriptive statistics and frequency tables were generated by commodity types, subunit operations, and/or occupations. Temporal trends of the incidences of hearing loss were reported by commodity types.Study Sample: The MSHA Accident/Injury/Illness and MSHA Address/Employment databases from 2000 to 2014 were used.Results: Incidence rate of OHL was reported highest in the coal sector compared to other commodity types. Those members of the workforce that entered the mining industry after the year 2000 accounted for 6.5% and 19.0% of the total hearing loss records for coal and non-coal, respectively. High-risk occupations found in all three commodity sectors (coal; stone, sand, and gravel; and metal/non-metal) were electrician/helper/wireman, mechanic/repairman/helper, bulldozer/tractor operator, and truck driver.Conclusion: Hearing loss risks were not uniform across mining sectors, subunit operations, and occupations. In addition to the continuous efforts of implementing engineering controls to reduce machinery sound level exposure for operators, a multi-level approach may benefit those occupations with a more dynamic exposure profile – e.g., labour/utilityman/bullgang, electrician/helper/wireman, and mechanic/repairman/helper.

Keywords:

• Noise-induced hearing loss
• mining industry
• hearing conservation
• hearing loss prevention
• noise

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to our colleagues from the Surveillance and Statistics Team of the Health Communications, Surveillance and Research Support Branch of the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division, NIOSH, for providing the MSHA employment and MSHA accident/injury/illness datasets. We give our special thanks to Elaine Rubinstein and Linda McWilliams from the Surveillance and Statistics Team for the support and assistance in improving the analysis of the study.

Disclosure statement

The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.