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RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

MR_HOLMES — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:05:51 GMT

I am with you. We sometimes blast the music loud enough to wake the dead. It is embarrassing when customers come in but we have fun anyway.

I think this issue is more about group dynamics and social norms than safety.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

GaryS — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:40:56 GMT

I'm in the minority here, but I don't see it any different than listening to a radio. You can turn either too loud to the point of distraction. I typically use my ipod in our cube farm, loud enough to reduce distractions around me, but low enough that I can hear conversation if anyone pops their head in and asks a question. (and yes, I remove the earbuds for a conversation)

If you walk by someone and can hear sound from their ear buds, or if you call them, and they don't hear you, then yes its time to turn it down. Otherwise, it shouldn't be a problem.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

MoscowLabAnalyst — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:44:56 GMT

MR_HOLMES (10/5/2007)

Wearing earphones while driving legislation was passed not because of any accidents but because of paranoid politicians that have nothing better to do for our community than make laws that don't truly improve our surroundings. I am sure if we put our collective heads together we could make better laws.

I agree that there is a small amount of risk in allowing some lab employees to wear earphones.

...I am not convinced that the ipod had anything to do with the accident. The same things could easily happen to any untrained worker or irresponsible cyclist.

I really want to understand this issue out of respect for my fellow coworkers.

I think that your desire to really understand this issue is thwarted by your unwillingness to be convinced by any amount of evidence that diminishing one's ability to hear one's coworkers, whether or not they are boring coworkers, is unwise. Deaf people use special devices to compensate for their loss of hearing.

The original quote is much better, but to paraphrase someone who has experienced both: "Blindness will disconnect people from things, But deafness disconnects people from people."

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

Victor — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:43:16 GMT

People that wear iPods while performing any type of activity other than standing in place need to receive the Darwin Award. I'll one up you on the "burning iPod" and parallel it to the idiot golfers that play while a thunderstorm is wreaking havoc the course. Use the following links to access PDF reports put out by New England Journal of Medicine. People getting struck by lightning while wearing iPods:

Thunderstorms and iPods: Not a Good Idea

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

Bill Gaines — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:46:16 GMT

And now for the icing on the cake: http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=6412

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

MR_HOLMES — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:56:25 GMT

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

SueKrueger — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 08:45:26 GMT

If it had not been for music I would have not made it

Whats wrong with just playing a radio for music?

Also, the earphones the bicyclist was wearing when I hit him WERE the cause of the accident - he said so himself!

Its not just a matter of not being able to hear whats going on, but as I've said before, I think listening through earphones causes you to be more absorbed in the music (rather than your surroundings) than if you were just listening to a radio in the background.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

Victor — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:36:18 GMT

Wow. I am clearly baffled and surprised that someone would clearly state that wearing earphones connected to an iPod is NOT a safety issue. California Vehicle Code Division 12, Chapter 5, Article 3.5, Section 37400 clearly makes it a vehicular infraction to be caught wearing ear phones while driving! This ensures that the person driving the vehicle can HEAR a blaring siren. That is, if you could not see the flashing lights. It does clearly state that earplugs must cover both ears. There is no problem as long as one ear is left uncovered. I could probably look up OSHA regulations as well and probably find the same thing.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

MR_HOLMES — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:00:36 GMT

I am not convinced that the ipod had anything to do with the accident. The same things could easily happen to any untrained worker or irresponsible cyclist.

I really want to understand this issue out of respect for my fellow coworkers. I could understand the possibility of the wires being caught in a centrifuge or something with moving parts but I think some people want to stop people from exercising a little personal freedom in the work place because they are unhappy. I worked the grave yard shift at a lab and received more than 500 samples each night that needed to be logged and bar coded for analysis. This was the most boring job in the world. If it had not been for music I would have not made it.

I think it depends on the work your doing and there should not be one blanket policy. It should be task specific and address any real safety issue.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

SueKrueger — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:07:17 GMT

I think the iPod is definately a safety issue - people using them cannot hear what's going on, and unlike a deaf person, are distracted and absorbed into the music, or whatever they're playing. I hit a bicyclist who was listening to an iPod while riding. He was unable to hear my car horn (or my car). He came off the right shoulder of the road, and literally summersaulted across the hood of my car. Luckily he wasn't hurt, and he admitted he never heard the horn.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

MR_HOLMES — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:00:08 GMT

I think IPODS are very bad. Sincerely Bill Gates.

I think it is much worse to have a chatty coworker blabbing in my ear than listening to my ipod. Some people have way to much time on their hands when you start worrying about music at work.

Ear buds provide an NR rating of less than 5, thus they do not reduce sound. I don't understand completely the safety issue. It has been my experience that people claim it is a safety issue because it is the easiest argument to make. I don't think having good hearing is a necessity for good lab practices or safety. I have worked people who are deaf in the lab. Never had any problems with burned fingers from autoclave trays or burning acid.

If an employee gets burned because they touch an autoclave, you need to train the employee not to touch things without verifying that they are cool, or you need to keep your hot stuff in a secure area until it cools. The only safety issue your lab has is inadequate training and procedures. The ipod probably has little to do with loss time accidents or injuring claims.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

Dedalus — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:33:53 GMT

John is, of course, correct. Safety is the primary thing. Here's a terrible scenario: you're running some kind of tricky acid digestion, you tell someone to 'look out.' But, they're wearing their "deaf hat" and they can't be bothered, so they vaguely nod at you...without really hearing you. And, something bad happens, and they wind up hurt.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

John Sansalone — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:14:19 GMT

On a general social level, I would tend to agree with Dedalus, but the issue at hand isn't really rudness, but safety. The reason that I think an IPOD is less safe is because the use of the ear buds not only provides the music (or whatever else the individual is listening to), but also acts as an earphone that prevents them from hearing other things - such as critical warnings.

The same might be true to some extent with a conventional pocket transistor radio, with an earpiece. A radio in an open room is background noise, which obviously has to be low enough for people to talk over. An IPOD acts like a much louder radio, where they may not hear that buzzer, shout, or whatever. I know that I've walked down the street, and could hear what people were listening to, from three or four feet away. I doubt they hear anything else, and it is no wonder they become oblivious. Scary related development: I've noticed is people driving, while listening to these things. It's probably impossible for the to hear sirens from emergency vehicles, which is a whole other story.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

Dedalus — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:42:53 GMT

No way would I allow that. Not only is it unsafe, (you need all five senses active in an environment where hazardous chemicals are in use) but it is, in a human sense, flat out rude.

We seem to have devolved into a society where it's acceptable to walk along, all but oblivious to one's surroundings, communing with cell phones, I-Pods, and whatever electronic whoosie that's possible to hang on ones head, and I for one just detest it. I find it really dehumanizing.

Listening to the radio? That's something you do with your coworkers, it's OK as long as it isn't too loud. I'm easy, I'll even listen to...Musak if it's the consensus. But, plugged into some gizmo, such that one isn't all there? No way.

Save it for the bus ride home.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

Sabir — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:19:45 GMT

In my opinion and personal experiences, use of IPODS is nearly as detractive in the lab as using mobile phone during driving. I agree that music flavor mood enhancement but it may be in the working environment and not merely safe to stick head phones into ear. As a medical point of view long time use of headphones may effect the sensitivity of the ear and the absolute threshold of hearing (ATH). ATH is the minimum sound level of a pure tone that an average ear with normal hearing can hear in a noiseless environment.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

Victor — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:38:30 GMT

There is nothing more risky and seriously dangerous than wearing headphones while doing ANYTHING other than sitting down. Your sense of spatial awareness is cut down to almost zero let alone hearing anything important, such as the fire alarm! Notwithstanding, I do listen to the radio to make my mundane and somewhat repetitive work a bit more tolerable. Mark and Brian make me laugh each and every morning.

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

MoscowLabAnalyst — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:22:57 GMT

We have a radio playing all the time, although with just the lab tech and I, it's not difficult to agree on a radio station. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a distraction, depending on what you're doing, it can speed up those repetitive tasks.

It would be a shame to lose the radio/music. However, it is very clearcut that earphones impede communication. There are many many examples of where earphones/buds are forbidden for safety reasons.

Perhaps as a compromise, you could specify that at least one hearing appendage be unimpeded at all times. It is possible to listen to just one ear-bud at a time.

(grooving to NPR at the moment)

RE: Use of IPODs in Labs

SueKrueger — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:37:03 GMT

I would think an iPod would be a safety issue anywhere in the workplace. Its a communication issue, and a distraction to the employee who is using it. I would not allow it.

Use of IPODs in Labs

JeffMacDonald — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:39:10 GMT

I work in a fairly large (17 analysts, plus management & support staff) wastewater lab. I am more or less a group leader and have no supervisory authority. Some coworkers wear IPODs while performing lab work. I feel that, at a minimum, this impairs communications. More importantly, I think there is a safety issue with the wearing of these. As an example, as I was warning a coworker that an autoclave cart was hot, she reached out and touched it. She was not really burned, but perhaps we were just lucky on that occasion. Lab management has observed analysts wearing IPODs in the lab setting and (to my knowledge) has not said anything. I feel that banning these devices from the lab would be appropriate. What do you think?