Updated June 26 - OHSA replies
Three men went out of their way to disprove Ħal Safi's reputation as a sleepy village last Sunday, doing untold damage to their hearing in the process.
In a 20-minute video sent to Times of Malta, the men can be seen incessantly ringing bells at the village's parish church, with no hearing protection in sight.
"I shot this video from around 200 metres away from the church," the Safi resident said. "It was loud enough from where I was standing, but can you imagine what it was like for those two men? Their heads were practically in the bells," he said.
The ringing began at 12pm and ended 40 minutes later, he said, with a repeat performance that same day at 6pm. Given that Safi's village feast is held at the end of August, it is not clear just why the Church bells rang for so long on a Sunday afternoon.
A rudimentary decibel metre app measured the noise as reaching 70dB from some 200 metres away, which is about as loud as a running shower. The reader, however, argued the reading did not reflect reality.
"If those bells were ringing right now, we couldn't be having this conversation," he told Times of Malta.
Noise-induced hearing loss
Medical professionals warn that exposure to sounds louder than 97dB for more than 30 minutes can lead to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), and recommend avoiding noises that are too loud, too close, or last too long.
Onset of NIHL is usually gradual and it might take time before hearing loss is noticeable. NIHL is also the only form of hearing loss which is completely preventable by avoiding overly loud noise and wearing hearing protection when exposed to it.
Answering questions by the Times of Malta, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority confirmed that since there was no employment relationship between the bell-ringers and the Church, it had no legal power to act.
"Most activities taking place during the organisation of a ‘festa’, fall outside the applicability of the OHS Authority Act," said OHSA CEO Mark Gauci, who suggested the bell-ringers caught on camera may have been wearing earplugs to protect their hearing.
Questions to the Safi parish priest remained unanswered.