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Fire fighters suing for sirens being to loud

mtlogcabin

mtlogcabin

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PITTSBURGH (AP) Four Pittsburgh firefighters are suing seven companies that manufacture fire trucks or sirens, claiming they've lost hearing due to the blaring sirens.

The firefighters range in age from 38 to 62 and joined the city's fire bureau between 1975 and 2000.

They're claiming that Mack Trucks Inc., Seagrave Fire Apparatus LLC and five other firms "knew or should have known the products ... were inherently dangerous, defective and hazardous to human hearing."

The men claim they've suffered irreversible hearing loss "due to exposure to the intense noise."

The firefighters are seeking unspecified monetary damages and are not suing the city.

They contend the manufacturers should have insulated the sirens to protect their hearing and/or provided warnings about their use.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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Read more: Pa. firefighters sue over hearing loss from sirens - New York News | NYC Breaking News
 
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has an online sound meter that lists common sounds from lowest to highest along with their respective decibels, the unit used to measure relative loudness. The scale runs from zero to 195. To give an idea of where common sounds range on this scale, a whisper is ranked at 30 decibels, a hair dryer at 90 decibels, a bulldozer at 105 decibels, a pneumatic drill at 119 decibels, a jet engine at takeoff at 140 decibels and a rocket launch at 180 decibels. Exposure to sound at or above 85 decibels may cause hearing loss.

Where does a siren rank on this scale? A fire engine siren is listed at 120 decibels, well above the 85 decibels at which hearing loss may occur – and just above a pneumatic drill and just below a jet engine at takeoff.
 
In 1981 I was fired for wearing hearing protection at Bowers Ambulance Co. in Long Beach California.
 
I can steer with my elbows....it's not like I'm all that good at it but hey, if everybody is getting out of my way.....
 
I am sure my hearing has been damaged from my time in the fire service. But, at that time, you just toughed it out. When I left in 1999, sirens were just beginning to be installed on the front bumper and not on the cab. Do the firemen have a legitimate claim, that I will leave to the courts.
 
Hearing damage........how about powder actuated fasteners, jack hammers........friggen tinners..........turbo torches........Police sirens, Ambulance, goes with the territory folks. If you think it's too loud, get an office job...........entirely JMHO.
 
fatboy said:
Hearing damage........how about powder actuated fasteners, jack hammers........friggen tinners..........turbo torches........Police sirens, Ambulance, goes with the territory folks. If you think it's too loud, get an office job...........entirely JMHO.
Click to expand...
fatboy,

What would be wrong with wearing hearing protection?

Don't you have an office job?
 
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