Hearing loss isn’t the first injury that comes to mind when an arc fault occurs. The light and heat emitted by the massive electrical explosion – the arc flash – can cause life-threatening and life-altering burns to the skin, compression injuries and loss of limbs if workers are left unprotected.
The decibel level of an arc flash explosion can reach well over 140 dB. That’s comparable to a jolting gun shot near your head, or a roaring jet engine 100 feet away. The immediate hearing damage from an arc flash blast is painful and irreversible. Hearing loss caused by high level noise exposure cannot be corrected with hearing aids or surgery.