AUDIOMETRIC TEST RESULTS

Don D

This is the first time I've personally received audiometric test results and am wondering what my obligations are with the material. Here, Safety is rolled into the HR department, whereas I've always experienced that being separated out before, so I didn't have to fool with it, other than letting the audio truck have my parking spot. We had 50 employees tested on my first day here and last week I got this nice, packaged three ring binder with colorful tabs and all the audiometric detail data that goes with this sort of activity. What do you do with it? What is the obligation to pass it along to the ee? Are there followup concerns? Thanks. Don D.

Peyton Irby MS

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-21-03 AT 07:12AM (CST)[/font][p] the results are kept for "baseline" purposes in that some time in the future an employee may make a w/c claim for hearing loss. results at that time are measured against the current and future test[s]. osha regs. also require they be kept. if an employee's test shows poor hearing, you should so advise that employeee so they can take corrective action.

safety

Don't forget that the results are medical records and to keep them seperate from personnel files. You, the company, are also required to keep the records for a period of thirty years after the term of the employee.

LindaS

As far as passing information along to employees, they should have received a copy of their result immediately following the test. They should also have been notified, as you should, if there were any employees who showed a significant loss of hearing since their last test. If there were any employees who fell into this category, you should have been notified as they will need to retake the test (this is typically done within 30 days). You should also have been notified if there were any OSHA recordable hearing losses for your employees. If there aren't any of the above, then they should be filed (I keep them in the binder they came in and keep them in the same file cabinet I keep the medical files).

One thing to think about, if it's not being done already, is to require all NEW employee's to have a hearing test immediately after they are hired. This way you have a baseline to work from for their annual tests and can provide valuable information should there ever be a w/c issue pertaining to hearing loss.