By Callum Ludwig
August marks National Tradies Health Awareness Month, and Yarra Ranges tradespeople are being urged to take their safety seriously.
Tradies, as well as labourers and those at home getting stuck into DIY projects, can avoid long-term and potentially irreversible eye and ear damage with simple preventative measures.
Local bricklayer David Malcolm has had hearing aids for nine years and said using a brick-cutting saw was what damaged his hearing.
“Back in those days, no one ever told you to wear earmuffs and nobody thought they were ever gonna go deaf. I’ve got a few mates that are plumbers who use a lot of power tools over their days, and they’re going deaf as well,” he said.
“I’ve got constant ringing in my ears from the saw, that’s what I put it down to. Even now using a grinder or anything like that, though I use earmuffs now. Bit late now I guess.”
New research commissioned by Specsavers Australia has revealed a shocking 60 per cent of tradies are not wearing protective equipment while at work.
In the Yarra Ranges, that equates to 15,053 of 25,089 technicians, tradespeople, labourers and machinery operators. Furthermore, 61 per cent of Australians do not wear protective equipment when doing work around the house.
Mr Malcolm said by the time he realised he was going to deaf, his hearing was already on a downhill run.
“I got hearing aids and it has been a lot better since then, but I wouldn’t say I’m 100 per cent. I still miss a few things, or so my wife tells me. My kids had told me to get hearing aids, because it was just getting worse and worse,” he said.
“We tell young people to make sure they are wearing earmuffs, safety glasses, gloves and everything now because 50 years ago, we never got told anything. All these power tools that have come in now are so easy to use and make life really easy, but if you don’t use them correctly, this is what happens.”
56 per cent of tradies surveyed admit to not wearing hearing protection in loud working environments or around loud machinery, with 34 per cent forgetting to wear hearing protection and 9
