I came across this photo of a sign on
Facebook today, and it reminded me of a steady low level battle that
I fought on the Rusty Flowers.
On the Rusty, our laundry was
forward on the upper deck of the engine room. You stepped from the
quarters sound lock and immediately turned right, and there was the
washer and dryer. So, the laundry is something we all must use, but
too many of the crew would not wear hearing protection while using
the laundry, despite the “Hearing Protection Required” sign on
the door leading into the engine room.
Being involved in sound
measurement at sports car races, I knew the basics of it, so I
picked up an inexpensive sound meter at Radio Shack, and did some
noise level checks. I'll spare you the details, but at full ahead
running, it turned out to be roughly 1,200 times louder than what it
took to start losing your hearing. So, I made a sign on a manila file
folder that stated this and taped it up on the engine room door right
at eye level, right below the other sign.
It didn't work. No effect at all.
I started reminding them that you
really had to wear the mouse ears out there. Sometimes they did,
other times they just shrugged and went out without them anyway.
Hmmm. I'm at a loss here, so I pondered this for a few days and
finally hit on something to try.
Before the watch was over,
one of the deckhands came along with his laundry basket, and was
headed out into the engine room without the hearing protection. I
reminded him that they were required, got the shrug, and then added
this. “You know”, I told him, “when you show a hearing loss,
and decide that you're going to sue the company for it, that they'll
call me to testify, and I'll have to say that the hearing protection
was required, the signs were posted and you still wouldn't do it. The
judge will dismiss your case immediately after hearing that under
oath testimony.”
It worked, he put the muffs on. Using the
same line on everybody else, compliance was achieved. I just didn't
want them losing part of their hearing, like I was slowly doing, even
with hearing protection.
