How Many Deaf Men (and Women) Will it Take?

It amazes me as I travel the country and the world to see how many ramp workers ignore basic safety protections. Take ear protection as an example. I don’t know any airport workers over 50 who don’t have some hearing loss. Many have significant hearing loss in one or both ears — me included. All those years of engines and APUs running within feet of your head take a toll on your hearing if you don’t wear ear protection religiously.   And I didn’t get religion until the damage was already done. Then I started carrying the ear protectors with me everywhere I went when I was on the job. Because I found that if I didn’t have them on me, the ramp could go from quiet to noisy all of a sudden and I was left with unprotected ears. In that short amount of time, over days, weeks, months and years, the damage gets done. And it’s not reversible.   So now it really pains me to see so many of our young workers without ear protection on the ramp. Many of them, probably like me, either forgot to bring their ear protection with them or think the exposure is only momentary; there’s no sudden pain or blood spouting to warn of injury. By the time you realize that you have hearing loss, it’s usually too late. Damage does occur from incremental exposure.   So we need to be role models for young workers by wearing ear protection ourselves, always. And we also need to remind them when they’re on the ramp without it. As their supervisors we need to make compliance with safety procedures mandatory. Aside from the health of our workforce, these safety measures reduce workers’ comp claims and improve our bottom lines. Not a bad combination.