Flight plan: hearing safety at Qantas

Frontline aviation workers perform their jobs in Australia’s loudest workplace. National Safety’s Editor, Dr JOSEPH BRENNAN*, speaks with our national carrier, Qantas, about how it is combating noise and its plan to make its workplaces safer: drawing out lessons for other at-risk industries.

Civil aviation noise is a major source of public concern — as is evidenced by the strict Commonwealth regulations in place to ensure that aircraft operating in Australia meet noise standards. Public concern around aviation noise in this country first reached fever pitch in the early sixties when Qantas introduced regular jet operations, and has attracted considerable investment and debate since. One possible solution to this issue is outlined in a 2018 academic article titled ‘Noise emissions from commercial aircraft’, in which the author argues: “Ultimately, the solution to the aviation noise problem is to contain all objectionable noise emissions from commercial aircraft within the boundary of the airport so that the communities around the airport are no longer exposed to high levels of aircraft noise.”

Yet from a workplace health and safety (WHS) perspective, this focus on community concern and workplace containment does not solve the key problem that exists in aviation organisations; namely, the noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) that is faced by frontline aviation workers who undertake their duties within the airport boundary. To explore this, I spoke with Australia’s national carrier, Qantas, to find out about their ‘flight plan’ to combat this issue, and what solutions they have put in place to protect airline workers. Of special interest was how Qantas as a safety leader is working to reduce noise in the country’s loudest workplace. The key initiatives Qantas outlines are of benefit to both the aviation industry and other industries with workers engaged on job sites where abnormally high noise exposure occurs.

Safety first

“Simply put,” Qantas told me, “the nature of the aviation industry means it is a noisy one.” Not just noisy, but the noisiest. This is according to Safe Work Australia (SWA), which, in a table of the most common workplace noise sources and their typical sound levels, ranks the jet engine (at 30 metres) as the top workplace hazard, producing a whopping 140 decibels (dB) — a reading that places it at the extreme end of permissible occupational noise exposure, according to SWA. The jet engine is followed in severity by the rivet hammer (130 dB) and rock drill (120 dB), especially common in construction and mining industries.

The need to protect its people from this particular occupational hazard is something Qantas is both cognisant of and proactively addressing. “From engines powering up to the use of other ground equipment,” they told me, “ensuring the hearing of all our staff is protected is a key part of ensuring a safe working environment for our operational team members.”

The ‘s’ in Qantas

That this company takes a proactive approach to safety is unsurprising. Qantas, after all — perhaps more than any other Australian brand — has become synonymous with ‘safety’. This is something safety expert Professor Patrick Hudson, as part of a 2018 SWA virtual seminar on Qantas, notes in an interview with Mark Sinclair, Head of Safety, Quality and Compliance at Qantas. In Hudson’s words: “You have one advantage, which is Qantas has a brand, the ‘S’ for Qantas almost stands for safety.” The high value Qantas, and other flag carriers and Australian airlines, places in its safety record no doubt explains why, despite having workers in the vicinity of jet engines, hearing-related incidents remain relatively low. Qantas’s spotless customer safety record is well known. With not a single fatality or hull loss in the jet era, it was named the safest airline in the world in AirlineRatings.com’s 2019 list. Yet its workplace safety record is impressive also.

“Qantas’s first priority is safety,” I am told, “in the air and on the ground. We pride ourselves on our transport safety culture and we’re always looking for opportunities to improve.” The latest figures provided to me by SWA on noise-related injury claims suggest that these strategies are working. Across an 11-year period (from 2004/05 to 2014/15), SWA advised that, on average, more than one third of claims (34%) came from the manufacturing industry, while 18% came from construction. This is contrasted by the aviation sector — inclusive of ‘Air and space transport’ and ‘Airport operations and other air transport support services’ — which accounted for a combined average of 1.4% of all accepted claims for hearing loss.

SWA also reports that the primary source of deafness arises from long-term exposure to sounds from inside settings. In other words, despite exposing its workers to the greatest noise hazard in Australia, our aviation industry has a generally good track record. For the 2018 financial year, Qantas’s performance in the total recordable injury frequency rate and lost work case frequency rate both improved compared to the year previous — although the duration rate rose slightly.

Yet that is not to say that the aviation sector has become complacent. On the contrary, Qantas appears dedicated to investing in the continued protection of its workers, and its overall safety record. It just makes good business sense. And there are lessons to be learnt from Qantas’s example, both for the aviation industry and the other industries where high noise exposure is a central occupational hazard. Our first stop is the importance of protective equipment.

Lesson 1: Take a hard line on PPE

In workplaces where risks arising from exposure to noise cannot be eliminated or minimised by more effective control measures, such as on the ground around jet engines, personal hearing protection (PPE) such as earmuffs or earplugs should be used. The first and simplest way to reduce the risk of NIHL, therefore, is to take a hard line on PPE adoption in these settings. As Qantas confirms, “All team members are required to wear hearing protection from the moment they step out onto the tarmac.”

Qantas is also keen to highlight the proactive steps it is taking to address noise exposure among its workforce, “particularly in the airport environment”, where its people are most at risk. “We have a number of initiatives and trials around noise exposure,” they told me. These initiatives and trials relate both to their rolling stock itself and the testing of their workers’ hearing. These former initiatives are in keeping with SWA advice, and the model WHS Regulations, which states that when you cannot eliminate the source of the noise completely (ie, the jet engine), it is prudent to seek out opportunities to supplement noisy equipment (ie, tugs or pullback tractors) with quieter alternatives. We will consider each in turn.

Lesson 2: Invest in quieter alternatives

Regarding the seeking out of quieter alternatives, Qantas told me: “In this space we’re currently rolling out special noise-reducing rolling stock.” This special stock is inclusive of reduction strategies for indoor and outdoor locations, such as “carts structured to minimise baggage rattling as it’s transported in closed environments” and “electric tugs with a lower noise profile than the conventional engines used in traditional tugs”. Investment in this latter area is especially important, and mirrors efforts and innovations being embraced by other national carriers who share Qantas’s commitment to safety.

When it comes to noise exposure in aviation, those working in the airport apron (where aircraft are parked at the terminal) are at the greatest risk. It is appropriate, therefore, that Qantas is investing in technology that can reduce noise for those who work around their jet engines. In this crucial apron area of the airport, acoustics research has shown that workers engaged in the ‘pushback’ of aircraft experience the highest daily noise exposure of all frontline employees. And it is reassuring to discover that there is international momentum behind the search for quieter alternatives to equipment utilised in this area.

Flag carrier of the Netherlands, KLM, celebrates 100 years of operation in 2019. It is another national carrier exploring the potential of electronic alternatives to conventional tugs as a means of reducing noise exposure and improving hearing safety. Research into KLM’s adoption of an electric taxi system observed a 69% noise level reduction as a result of the elimination of engine noise from the airport apron. Additionally, this particular ‘autonomous’ system increased apron safety by reducing the number of employees needed for a successful aircraft pushback. “With fewer ground crew in the proximity of the aircraft,” this research notes, “a reduction in the probability of serious injuries or fatalities of ground personnel can be realised.” Regular hearing tests are another strategy by which NIHL risks can be mitigated.

Lesson 3: Develop audiometric testing programs

Qantas is keen to highlight its proactive approach to testing the hearing of its at-risk workers. “Last year Qantas trialled a mobile hearing test solution,” I was told, “allowing more frequent, accessible checks for our frontline employees.” This is, of course, in keeping with the model WHS Regulations, which require a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) to provide audiometric testing for workers at risk of NIHL. This is required within three months of a worker starting, with follow-up tests carried out at least every two years.

The importance of audiometric testing of frontline aviation workers is supported by research, which recommends that those workers who are exposed to occupational noise levels above 87 dB, such as frontline airline workers, require protection and audiometric testing. In this space, Qantas reports that its recent trial of “iPad-based testing received positive feedback and is being reviewed for opportunities for ongoing use”. Additionally, the company reports that it is continually seeking opportunities to improve its testing. They were, for example, “partnering with a provider to trial new audiometric testing” at time of writing. Finally, a key lesson of Qantas’s approach to hearing safety is its breadth of concern.

Lesson 4: Take a holistic approach

Qantas recognises the need to protect the hearing of its entire workforce, not only those most at risk. “We’re also conducting studies into the noise generated onboard our aircraft,” they told me by way of illustrating their broader hearing safety initiatives. Such studies have involved their “Customer Operations team running a series of environmental noise surveys for cabin crew”. And rightly so.

While those working on the tarmac might immediately spring to mind as being adversely affected by occupational noise, research has also highlighted the importance of hearing safety in other professions within the industry, among pilots especially. As the research acknowledges, civil aviation pilots perform tasks that involve “great neuro-emotional tension”, and therefore a proper hearing safety program is one that takes into account all employees in an organisation.

Such an approach is in line with SWA’s guidance that work requiring high concentration should ideally be carried out in workplaces with noise levels below 50 dB. Research of which puts average cockpit noise levels far in excess of these guidelines. Qantas may be an established leader in the safety space, but many of its approaches to hearing safety are broadly applicable to, and feasibly adoptable by, other industries where the hearing safety of employees is of special concern.

The broad horizon

As was expected, when it comes to the safety ethos of our national carrier, Qantas is a company with its ‘ear to the ground’, proactively protecting the hearing of all those in its employ. Yet there are also lessons to be learnt from its example. In particular, for organisations with workers in other industries, such as those employed on construction sites, in manufacturing and on our railways, all of whom experience abnormally high noise exposure in the workplace. These industries, it is important to acknowledge, also have their share of safety-leading companies who are working to protect their workers and improve Australia’s noisiest workplaces.

*Dr Joseph Brennan is Editor of National Safety.