Health and safety requirements for staff who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus are essentially the same as for everyone else, but it is vital to understand if they may need additional support, such as a vibrating fire-alarm pager.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 or The Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 doesn’t include any disability-specific requirement for employers. But, under equality law, you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments so a deaf employee or an employee with hearing loss isn’t put at a ‘substantial disadvantage’ compared with everyone else.
There are a number of things you may want to consider for supporting employees who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus. These include:
Equipment
All staff must be alerted to fire or other critical alarms anywhere they work (with or without hearing aids or technology).
Risk assessments must be completed by a qualified Health and Safety official alongside the Fire Warden.
Buddy systems can fail and are not recommended; they increase unnecessary risk to all parties.
This process should be completed with and without the staff member’s hearing aids or technology, because batteries can run out, plus staff may switch off their hearing aids in noisy environments.
If they are not alerted to the fire alarm, then ensure suitable alternatives are put in place. Flashing light alarms or vibrating paging systems may be required. Check with your existing fire alarm provider in the first instance.
Visual fire alarms
Make sure all private and quiet areas, such as toilets, locker rooms, and prayer rooms, have flashing alarms to alert staff with hearing loss.
Work with your employees to identify the best place for them to sit so they can see the alarm’s light. The alarm could be positioned next to their desk, slightly above it, or in their general eye-line.
You will also need to install visual alarms in meeting rooms, canteens and kitchens.
Critical Alert Paging Systems
Paging systems send critical alerts directly to the wearer enhancing safety in large premises by providing real-time communication. This technology ensures that individuals are promptly notified of emergencies, such as fire, security breaches, or other critical situations, enabling them to respond swiftly and appropriately.
By delivering alerts directly to the wearer, regardless of their location within the premises, the paging system minimises response times and facilitates efficient evacuation or emergency procedures.
Fire marshals
Fire marshals should be made aware of employees who are deaf, have hearing loss, or tinnitus. We recommend that they complete deaf awareness training, to ensure they’re able to communicate effectively in an emergency.
Training will ensure staff are able to support individuals needs, such as informing someone with tinnitus about any potential testing so they can remove themselves from the building in advance.
Accessible health and safety training
Any staff training must be accessible to people who are deaf or have hearing loss. This could include providing communication support such as British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters, lipspeakers, or speech-to-text reporters. If you’re using videos, make sure they have subtitles.
Policies
Review your policies regularly to make sure they’re adequately supporting employees who are deaf or have hearing loss. Policies should be in plain English, which will be helpful to staff with hearing loss and those whose first language isn’t English.
You may also want to make some or all policies available in British Sign Language (BSL).
Emergency evacuation plan
It’s vital that your emergency evacuation plan is accessible at all times, as a member of staff who is deaf and uses BSL may want to read it when an interpreter isn’t available.
We also recommend that you include a visual plan.
Travel
In organisations where travelling outside of regular daily commuting is part of an employee’s role, you could include a travel policy. The policy should encourage deaf staff and staff with hearing loss to plan their journey in advance, and leave plenty of time for unexpected delays.
Lone-working policy
Your lone-working policy should ensure that any staff who are deaf or who have hearing loss can easily make contact with appropriate colleagues, for example by textphone or SMS.
Where a person with hearing loss regularly works alone in an office, you should consider providing a flashing doorbell or vibrating pager to alert the person if someone wants to enter the office.
All environments where an individual attends for work purposes should be considered, including at home and overnight accommodation if required. To help ensure these spaces are safe and accessible, you should:
- ensure the home is a safe place to work if required
- book accessible accommodation with vibrating pillow pads and flashing fire alarms for deaf people if required
- request fire alarm information and evacuation plans in advance of any site visits
Reporting absence
It’s standard practice for an employee to report to their line manager if they’re unwell and unable to come into work.
Your policy should make it clear that texting or emailing is acceptable so that deaf staff or staff with hearing loss can easily inform their manager when they cannot work.
Lifts
Thought is rarely given to how a deaf person or person with hearing loss can communicate in the event of a lift breaking down. Typically, the only way for a trapped person to communicate is by the intercom.
Consider installing alternative methods, such as lifts with a video intercom system connected to a remote sign language interpreting service. If this isn’t possible, display instructions so the trapped person knows what to do and how long they may be waiting.
You should then amend your procedures to make sure that you respond to all alarm calls, by all methods, and regardless of whether communication has been made.
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