I am trying to get our chief to purchase the head sets for all out trucks so we can have protection and still be able to communicate, just curious how many of your depts use them.I alredy have some permanent hearing loss dont want any more.

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well we have tried that approach , even with a 7 million surplus he still has done nothing.
Isn't there some OSHA guidance or similar?

Does the department do regular audiometry testing which can be used as evidence?
7.18.1 Hearing protection shall be provided for and used by all members operating or riding on fire apparatus when subject to noise in excess of 90dBA. 2007 NFPA 1500

As far as OSHA, theres a lot of reccomendations, but I haven't seen any rules mandating hearing protection specific to firefighters.

Philadelphia did a lot of testing and came to the conclusion that almost 80% of their firefighters has hearing loss. Based on this they obtained a grant for $500,000 to purchase hearing protection. Hopefully they wear what they bought.
I'm not familiar with OSHA laws, etc given that I'm from the Great Land Down Under, but I assume you have workplace safety laws like us- ours don't differnetiate the type of work being done. They simply say (for example) if you're exposed to noise at XYZ dB level, then steps need to be taken to rectify it. (Obviously very, very paraphrased)

It shouldn't matter whether your a firefighter, a steel worker, a wharfie, etc.

Damage is damage and if it's being done on or by the job, then surely the employer needs to do something about it????
I too have hearing aids in both ears, I'm 30 y/o and have the hearing of a 60 y/o, but not all of it is from sirens but once you start losing it, you realize how much you wish you'd have done more to protect them, back to the question we've got head sets in everyone of our vehicles and they work awesome.
we have one headset and that came on our new 2008 truck
We have a couple of departments here that have the headset in thier trucks. They really like them for noise reduction and the ability to hear the radio. They got them put in thier trucks for safty also they can keep thier hands on the wheel while they are driving now and not on the mic.
Not to be a smart ass or anything, but the driver should not be operating the mic while the vehicle is moving. That is one of the tasks the officer should be doing. Just an observation from someone who has seen that same practice have bad results.
My dept has a headset for every seat, including the back of the medic unit. We use them even when not on emergency runs. Keeps you from having to shout over the road noise.
Most of our rigs are now equipped with the intercom headsets. No more yelling back and forth! I highly recommend them. Stay safe!

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