Ear plugs
 

Our data centre is pretty noisy and I would like to see ear plugs availalbe in there, a bit of topic but anyone know what Health and Safetys take is on this, ie, what DB's require ear protection?

Looks like 80 dB is the max OSHA allows. Here's an article from Computerworld with more details:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/...R%20NETWORKING

Ken

A variety of earplugs are available at most hardware stores. If you want to provide temporary, disposable protection for staff or visitors, these are great: http://www.gemplers.com/product/EAR9...lugs-200-pr-bx

Ken

Using those big old ear phones with some of your favorite music will also do the trick, of course you need to make sure they are light weight or you will end up with neck problems.

Initially it would feel good but no one can always enjoy it. People often look for silence when they are in DC so music may not give them desired relief.

80 dB is too much if it is sustained daily all through the work hours. And as Molly pointed out listening to music is also not a good idea as you are againg straining your ears to noise( music in this case)

I nice solution is ear-protection with voice-filtering, so that you can hear each other talking but over a specific dB it cutts these sounds.

I think that this is a very relevant topic. to my knowledge, I don't think anyone has ever performed a survey to see, if the environment in a Datacenter/serverroom has any impact on peoples health. Besides the noize there also hot and cold ailes combined with enormous draft. Not to mention all the fumes from the new hardware beeing installed in the datacenter.
Has anyone ever heard of a such survey, or does anyone have any experience with this??
Could be interesting to hear from others concerning this :)

I haven't heard of any surveys myself. I would think most techs just get use to the noise. There have been times where I used where I live as ultra small datacenter for personal uses (afaik, a very basic one, mainly for testing variuos things), and I just got use to to noise, and it was noisy. Though if it does bother you, theres always earmuffs, which is what most workmen use.

Both OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) in the U.S. and CCOHS (Canadian Council for Occupational Health & Safety) have similar recommendations for both the types and use of hearing protection devices. They state that the necessity of ear noise protection depends primarily on

* The level of the noise to be eliminated.
* The nature of the noise, sustained or intermittent.
* The work responsibilities and comfort of the person wearing ear protection.

For instance, both agencies recommend the use of hearing protection equipment if you are surrounded by sustained noise levels of more than 85 to 90 decibels during an eight hour day. As the workplace noise level rises, the allowable time period to go without ear plugs or muffs is reduced. For example, if you’re exposed to sustained noise for four hours at a decibel level over 95 dB, you should wear the best hearing protection available.

OSHA further states that “ Hearing protectors worn by employees must reduce an employee’s noise exposure to within the acceptable limits noted in Table 5.” (Table 5 in the OSHA info booklet is the illustration that shows acceptable noise duration at various decibel levels). The question of whether to use the best earplugs or hearing protection muffs depends on how long the noise is sustained, the usual movements by the worker around the worksite, and the overall comfort level of the employee.
For example, let’s assume you are exposed to a jackhammer, producing 105 decibels, but it is only used intermittently and not constantly. Wearing custom earplugs, embedded in your ears, might prove to be cumbersome to insert, remove, re-insert, etc. A good set of ear protection muffs may be much more convenient to use in this situation. The bottom line, per OSHA, is to recognize when hearing protection is needed and to ensure that the solution you choose reduces the noise level to, at least, under 85 to 90 dB.