Narrative:

Several personnel present in the break room with supervisor. Supervisor brought to [our] attention the decline in headset usage. Supervisor stated it was SOP. It was then brought to supervisor's attention that we are in a state of emergency with the covid-19 virus pandemic. It was then brought to supervisor's attention that the microphone area was not able to be cleaned by a wipe. We questioned the alcohol content; and what the wipes kill. It was brought up the hearing lesson states you can wear either ear plugs; or the over-the-ears with cups. The headset lesson states that you should not wear ear plugs with the wireless headsets. There is no volume control with the wireless headsets; only noise cancelling - to which it doesn't do a great job. The wireless headsets are required to be worn during arrival and dispatch. To which at some point a changeover would be necessary which gives a break in hearing protection when switching between ppe [personal protection equipment]. It was brought up [company safety rule] due to the headsets giving you a lack of peripheral vision; situational awareness; and a loud amplification of outside noise. Also; as a pushback driver I've had to ask the flight deck numerous times on numerous occasions what they said over the radio to me as I could not hear what they were saying over the 2 wingwalkers. It was brought up that we only do a straight pushback in ZZZ. To the point on outside noise supervisor stated that headsets numbered [3 headsets] had some hearing feature; but supervisor did not know how to use it. I then asked if supervisor had ever worn these headsets; and supervisor stated 'no.' supervisor then proceeded to walk away from the conversation on the shop floor.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Ground employee reported problems associated with sharing headsets.

Narrative: Several personnel present in the break room with Supervisor. Supervisor brought to [our] attention the decline in headset usage. Supervisor stated it was SOP. It was then brought to Supervisor's attention that we are in a state of emergency with the COVID-19 virus pandemic. It was then brought to Supervisor's attention that the microphone area was not able to be cleaned by a wipe. We questioned the alcohol content; and what the wipes kill. It was brought up the hearing lesson states you can wear either ear plugs; or the over-the-ears with cups. The headset lesson states that you should not wear ear plugs with the wireless headsets. There is no volume control with the wireless headsets; only noise cancelling - to which it doesn't do a great job. The wireless headsets are required to be worn during arrival and dispatch. To which at some point a changeover would be necessary which gives a break in hearing protection when switching between PPE [Personal Protection Equipment]. It was brought up [company safety rule] due to the headsets giving you a lack of peripheral vision; situational awareness; and a loud amplification of outside noise. Also; as a pushback driver I've had to ask the flight deck numerous times on numerous occasions what they said over the radio to me as I could not hear what they were saying over the 2 wingwalkers. It was brought up that we only do a straight pushback in ZZZ. To the point on outside noise Supervisor stated that headsets numbered [3 headsets] had some hearing feature; but Supervisor did not know how to use it. I then asked if Supervisor had ever worn these headsets; and Supervisor stated 'No.' Supervisor then proceeded to walk away from the conversation on the shop floor.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.