The blast is now in the past at Danny Cleary Centre

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

There will be no more blasting airhorns at Harbour Grace’s arena.
The edict against the ear-splitting peals comes after council adopted a recommendation from its recreation committee that the instruments be banned from the Danny Cleary Harbour Grace Community Centre.
The committee started looking into the issue after council received a letter from a resident complaining about the noise which is often blasted when the home team scores a goal. The resident was worried the blasts might hurt people’s hearing.
The committee chairman, medical doctor Gary Baker, promptly took up the complaint.
At council’s November 17 meeting, Baker reported that he had spoken with Workplace Safety NL, looked at the policies of other arenas, particularly in St. John’s, and read documented information about arenas in other provinces.
“The gist of the whole thing is that airhorns shouldn’t be used indoors in a facility where it’s fan-based and where there’s workers,” said Baker.
A ‘fan-based facility’ is bureaucratic talk for gyms, courts, pitches, arenas and other venues that attract people who want to watch sports.
Baker noted 85 decibels is usually the top limit of a safe range of sound. Above this level, potential hearing damage can occur. Workplace NL informed Baker the typical handheld airhorn usually reaches 120-130 decibels. The commercial airhorn used at the Danny Cleary Centre, which is connected to a commercial compressor, far exceeds the level of handheld airhorns, Baker reckoned.
“You’re looking at potentially up around the 150 to 160 (level), maybe even higher in decibel noise level,” he said. “And that has extreme, extreme potential to cause hearing damage.”
The recommendation put forward by Baker was that the airhorn should not be used indoors, especially where there are staff and fans, and that its use in the arena be prohibited immediately. Baker added that facilities including the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s and Glacier Arena in Mount Pearl do not allow the use of airhorns, and some provinces do not allow them to be used in fan-based facilities.
Baker’s motion passed unanimously.