South Australian Consolidated Regulations South Australian Consolidated Regulations (1) For the purposes
of section 113(3) and (4) of the Act, noise induced hearing loss is a
prescribed disability.
(2) The following
procedures apply for the purpose of establishing whether a worker is suffering
from hearing loss that may be noise induced:
(a) the
worker must first undergo an audiometric test of hearing conducted by—
(i)
a legally qualified medical practitioner; or
(ii)
an audiologist; or
(iii)
an audiometrist; and
(b) for
the purposes of paragraph (a)—
(i)
an audiometric test must include air-conduction and
bone-conduction pre-tone threshold measures with appropriate masking; and
(ii)
air-conduction testing must comply with requirements of
Rule 5.6.3.4 (a) and (c) of Australian Standard 1269 "Acoustics-Hearing
Conversion"; and
(iii)
bone-conduction testing must comply with the Audiological
Society of Australia Professional Standards of Practice; and
(iv)
during an audiometric test, the hearing levels of the
worker must be determined at audiometric test frequencies, 500, 1 000,
1 500, 2 000, 3 000 and 4 000Hz with an audiometer
calibrated to the reference specified in Australian Standard AS 1591.2 : 1987,
Part 2 "Reference Zero for the Calibration of Pure Tone Audiometers and AS
1591.4 : 1995, Part 1 "Reference Zero for the Calibration of Pure-Tone Bone
Conduction Audiometers", and the instrumentation for bone conduction
audiometry must also comply with Australian Standard 1591.4 : 1995, Part 4
"Acoustics-Instrumentation for Audiometry-A Mechanical Complier for
Calibration of Bone Vibrators"; and
(v)
if noise induced hearing loss is diagnosed, the hearing
levels of the better and worse ear must be determined at each audiometric test
frequency and, using the hearing levels obtained, a percentage loss of hearing
must be read at each audiometric test frequency in accordance with the
appropriate tables so as to obtain six values of percentage loss of hearing,
and those six values of percentage loss of hearing are to be added together to
obtain the binaural percentage loss of hearing; and
(vi)
if the worker is a man of or over the age of 56 years or
a woman of or over the age of 69 years, the value in table P set out in
Appendix 5 of NAL Report No 118 appropriate to the worker's age and sex must
be subtracted from the binaural percentage of loss of hearing obtained in
accordance with the procedure set out in subparagraph (v); and
(c) in
addition to an audiometric test, a legally qualified medical practitioner
registered in the speciality of otorhinolaryngology, or approved by the
Corporation, must carry out a physical examination of the worker (and any
other appropriate investigation that the medical practitioner considers
necessary) to determine whether the worker's hearing loss is noise induced or
is due, or partly due, to ear disease or other causes of hearing loss and
must, having regard to the results of the audiometric test of hearing,
determine the noise induced hearing loss of the worker as a binaural noise
induced hearing loss expressed as a percentage loss of hearing.
(3) For the purposes
of this regulation—
(a)
"audiologist" means a person who is either a full member, or eligible to be a
full member, of the Audiological Society of Australia and who holds, or is
eligible to hold, a Clinical Certificate of the Society;
"audiometrist" means a person who is either an ordinary member, or eligible to
be an ordinary member, of the Australian College of Audiology;
"Australian Standard" means a standard of the Standards Association of
Australia as in force for the time being and from time to time;
"Hz" means Hertz where one Hertz equals one cycle per second;
"NAL Report No 118" means the report entitled Improved Procedure for
Determining Percentage Loss of Hearing published by the National Acoustic
Laboratories in January 1988 (ISBN 0 644 06884 1); and
(b) the
appropriate tables are tables RB-500 to RB-4000 (inclusive) set out in
Appendix 3 of NAL Report No 118.