Hear! Hear! Industry experts sound off on noise pollution during powder coating
Powder coating is a sound operation. But sometimes there's too much sound - as in noise.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health [NIOSH], approximately 30 million people in the US are occupationally exposed to hazardous noise; about 10 million people have noise-induced hearing loss, almost all caused by occupational exposures. We gave people from various areas of the powder coating industry a chance to speak their piece about occupational noise. Most concurred that noise wasn't a major problem in the powder coating workplace. All the same, several people agreed that there are ways to muffle the louder areas of the finishing shop. As for hearing protection devices, most said shop owners were leaving it up to employees as to whether to use them or not.