WORKPLACE health risk prevention expert Reactec has teamed up with hearing protection tech specialists Minuendo to help companies actively prevent hearing damage in their workforce.
Norway-based Minuendo has developed a revolutionary ear plug called Smart Alert which not only provides protection from noise but also monitors the level of noise entering the ear. Smart Alert informs a user in real time of their noise exposure based on monitoring and warns them if they are inadequately protected against that noise.
In the UK, the HSE estimates over 2 million workers are exposed to levels of noise that put their hearing at risk, with 17% suffering hearing loss, tinnitus or other related conditions as a result of exposure to excessive noise at work. In many sectors, such as manufacturing, engineering and construction, workers are exposed to noise that frequently surpasses ‘normal’ or ‘safe’ levels and durations.
This unique collaboration between Reactec and Minuendo allows companies to access the data from the Smart Alert device automatically within the Reactec Analytics platform and to align noise exposure with the other data that Reactec collects – such as vibration exposure through the use of power tools.
With this integrated noise device, companies can actively protect the health and wellbeing of individual workers by engineering out risk through this clever wearable technology. Reactec uses industrial grade wearables and cloud based data analytics to address exposure to risks such as Hand Arm Vibration, dust, hazardous areas, lone working and now noise.
Jacqui McLaughlin, CEO of Reactec, said: “Our collaboration with Minuendo is exciting and is fully complementary with our existing workplace wearables technology that is all designed to help prevent harm, not just respond to issues afterwards.”
“We know that traditional PPE does not provide information about an individual’s level of protection or exposure to noise and now, armed with Smart Alert and Reactec’s cloud-based analytics, companies can actively protect the health and wellbeing of their workforce.”
Neal Muggleton, COO of Minuendo, added: “Passive protection methods do not help safety managers and employers to tackle the problem of hearing loss in the workplace. By contrast, our new Smart Alert solution is proactive: giving employees warnings and updates on their exposure, alerting safety managers to any issues, and giving employers a total record of each employee’s noise exposure over time.”
“By combining the noise exposure data gathered by Smart Alert with other criteria through the Reactec platform, safety managers can gain unparalleled insights to help identify those most at risk, so that timely interventions can be made. This is a major step forward in tackling noise-related hearing loss in the workplace.”
