Program Implementer Responsibilities
Because the program implementer is usually responsible for planning the educational sessions, and in some instances, may be the appropriate person to conduct sessions, it is extremely important that the program implementer have training that is current and relevant to the hearing conservation program. The type of training that the program implementer will need is often available at state, regional, and national conferences sponsored by safety or hearing conservation associations.
The program implementer should plan sessions that are limited in content to short, simple presentations of the most relevant facts. When stressing health promoting behaviors (such as consistently wearing hearing protection while working in noise) research suggests that the focus should be on the real-life losses employees might expect if they don't act to protect their hearing. They might not be able to hear children's voices. They might not understand speech at a party, enjoy music and the sounds of nature, or perceive sounds that may convey other critical information-such as danger or equipment malfunctions.
Another useful approach might be to explain audiometric results so employees can see how their hearing threshold levels compare to those of non-noise exposed individuals with normal hearing in their own age group. Once employees agree upon why they need to conserve their hearing and how to monitor their audiogram results, the remainder of the program can focus on how to protect their hearing on and off the job through the effective use of hearing protection devices and good maintenance of engineering noise controls.