PRODUCTS
- Collections by industry
- Construction - Construction Sites
- Food industry
- Laboratories - Chemical Management
- Mining - Excavations
- Welding
- Industry - Handicraft
- Shipping
- Food Service – Retail
- Agricultural Work – Gardening
- Storage – Courier Services
- Environmental Services – Quality of Life
- Building Management
- Professionals
- Electrical Work
- Workshops – Mechanics
- Work at Height
- Health and Beauty
- Tourism
- Refrigerators – Freezers
- Clothing Manufactured by Us
Workwear
Safety Footwear
Work Gloves
Hearing Protection
Eye Protection
Head Protection
Breathing Protection
Fall Protection Equipment
Disposable Items
PPE Accessories
Specialized PPE
European Standards for hearing and head protection
Hearing protection is used to reduce the noise reaching the user's ears, so as to reduce the risk of hearing damage from excessive noise.
The effectiveness of hearing protection is often limited by personal factors as well as the working environment. It may reduce the audibility of warning sounds.
Head protection, on the other hand, is divided into impact protection against fixed objects or protection against falling objects. They correspond to different PPE.
Given these particularities, the appropriate protective equipment should be selected in accordance with the European Standards for the protection of hearing and head. Read more about the Hearing and Head Protection Standards below.
Basic standards for hearing and head protection
EN 352
The European Standard for Noise Protection consists of several parts for the safety and testing of different types of Personal Noise Protection Equipment. Axion Cotton has codes with the corresponding standards:
- EN 352-1: Earplugs
- EN 352-2: Earplugs
- EN 352-3: Earplugs mounted on helmets
- EN 352-4: Level-dependent electronic earplugs. The difference between conventional and electronic earplugs is as follows: while conventional earplugs reduce all sounds regardless of their intensity, electronic earplugs have external microphones and internal speakers. This allows the user to hear sounds of normal volume while reducing high volume sounds. The user can for example converse with colleagues at normal voice volume, but will be protected when there is high volume noise in the environment.
- EN 352-8: Electronic earplugs - Level-dependent with entertainment radio
EN 166
Specification for personal protective equipment for eyes and face. Specifies the specifications for construction and performance (optical properties such as intensity, transmission and diffusion of light factors, mechanical properties such as solidity, thermal stability and resistance).
EN 1731
Mesh-type eye and face protectors for industrial and non-industrial use, protection against mechanical hazards and/or heat.
EN 812
EN 812 specifies the physical and performance requirements, test methods and marking requirements for shock-proof, bump caps used in industry. Bump caps for industrial use are intended to provide limited protection to the wearer. When hitting hard and immobile objects with sufficient force, which may cause lacerations. Or other superficial injuries to the wearer or render the wearer unconscious.
Essentially intended for indoor use where objects do not fall down. A hat with impact protection is not intended to protect the wearer from the effects of falling objects or from suspended or moving loads. Impact-protected hats must under no circumstances replace a protective industrial helmet complying with EN 397.
EN 397
European standard EN 397 specifies the physical and performance requirements, test methods and marking requirements for industrial protective helmets. These safety helmets protect against falling objects.
New European Directive on Hearing and Head Protection Standards
European Directive 2003/10/EC on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers (to risks arising from natural agents (noise). arising from (or likely to arise from) exposure to noise and in particular for hearing risks has been in force since 15 February 2006.
This new directive reduces the threshold for harmful sounds by 5db. It includes the following limits for daily exposure levels for a normal working day of 8 hours. It covers all noises in the working environment, including spontaneous noise:
- Where noise exceeds 80 dB, the employer will provide personal hearing protection equipment for workers.
- Where the noise is equal to or exceeds 85 dB, personal hearing protectors will be used.
This new Directive introduces the concept for Exposure Limit Values as follows:
- In no case will the worker's exposure exceed the limit value of 87 dB. When the exposure limit values apply, the determination of the worker's actual exposure will take into account the reduction provided by the individual hearing protectors worn by the worker. Personal protective equipment shall be selected so as to eliminate the risk to hearing or to reduce the risk to a minimum.
What are the limits that should be observed with regard to hearing?
The EN 352 standard certifies, in Europe, personal hearing protection equipment and sets upper limits for sounds. Directive 2003/10/CE sets the most recent European regulation. If the daily exposure to noise (8 hours/day) is 80 dB(A), the employer must provide protective equipment for his employees. If the daily noise exposure (8 hours/day) is 85 dB(A), the use of protective equipment is mandatory. The final limits of 87 dB(A) and 140 dB(C) are considered as the exposure limit values with hearing protectors.
How do we choose the appropriate hearing protection?
Each personal hearing protector comes with a universal table of values provided by laboratories, with the following information:
SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) = Universal Reduction Ratio: indicates the number of dB from which the device can protect. It is not an exact indicator but an average.
The HML system allows the definition of SNR. SNR corresponds to 3 partial reduction ratios which vary according to the frequency level as follows: low L - medium M - high H
| SNR:36dB | H:35 | M:33 | L:31 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hz Frequency | 125 | 250 | 500 | 1000 | 2000 | 4000 | 8000 |
| dB Average reduction | 35.6 | 35.8 | 38.8 | 37.4 | 38.7 | 46.9 | 44.4 |
| dB Data deviation | 6.2 | 7.0 | 6.3 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 5.2 |
| Actual protection | 29.4 | 28.8 | 32.5 | 31.4 | 33.7 | 42.1 | 39.2 |
The rest of the table shows the exact values for exact frequencies. Thanks to the actual protection, the employer can check that the selected personal protective equipment is strong enough to protect against the exact frequencies observed in his company. For example, the specific means is stronger for a frequency of 4000 Hz than for a lower frequency.
Use of dual hearing protection
The use of dual hearing protection (earplugs with ear plugs) may be necessary for extremely noisy work (120 dB and above). Studies have shown that the reduction from such combined protection was lower than the sum of the reductions provided by each protection separately.
This is explained by the mechanical-acoustic coupling, which exists between the two means but even more so for high frequencies. With a higher threshold due to the passage of sound through the cranial bones (bone conduction) and which in a way 'short-circuits' the protection, however high. The maximum reductions achieved during earplug and ear plug combination tests were around 40 dB.
Sources
General information on earplugs and ear muffs:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earplug
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmuffs
Legislation and information on hearing protection standards:
- http://www.elinyae.gr/el/lib_file_upload/220A-94.pdf
- http://www.elinyae.gr/el/lib_file_upload/TYPOP.1103193105796.pdf
More resources on Personal Protective Equipment and in particular hearing and head protection (in English):
- Directive 89/656/EEC – use of personal protective equipment of 30 November 1989 on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use by workers of personal protective equipment at the workplace, OJ L 393 , 30/12/1989 P. 0018 – 0028.
- https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/Hearing_protection
My cart
There are no products in the cart.
Continue shopping
