Where more is meant than meets the ear

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force.

The friends who listen to us are the ones we move forward.

When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand"

Karl A. Menninger

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As if your human resource department doesn’t already have enough to do or be anxious about - here’s an abridged rundown highlighting the minimal requirements of federal OSHA's occupational noise exposure standard at the general workplace. 

Surprisingly, there are a number of dissimilar health hazards that are caused from protracted exposure to high levels of noise over varying lengths of time. 

Say what?

Okay, the bad news is that studies have indelibly evinced that when workers are exposed to high noise levels it can often result with elevated blood pressure, heart disease, increased stress, ringing in the ears, tinnitus, permanent hearing loss, birth defects, and workplace accidents.

The good news is that all of the above is one-hundred percent preventable.

A written program is required by federal OSHA whenever it is established that employee noise exposure equals or exceeds an 8-hour time-weighted average sound level of 85 dB (decibels, A- scale). The program should include, at minimum, the following areas below

Engineering controls requiring that feasible administrative (which simply means capable of being done) or appropriate engineering controls be put into place to lower the noise level. If such controls fails to lower sound levels, then hearing protector devices (HPD’s) must be provided by the employer to reduce prohibitive sound levels to tolerant levels as established by OSHA.

Testing, monitoring & individual employee notification is to be conducted when any employee’s exposure level equals or exceeds the previously mentioned 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 dB. 

A baseline audiogram must be established within 6 months of initial exposure for each individual employee, including annual hearing tests to accurately monitor and document the hearing fitness of the affected employee. 

The audiograms must be evaluated by an audiologist or physician and paid by the employer. The exposure measurement must include all continuous, intermittent, and impulsive noise levels within an 80 dB to 130 dB range that must be taken during a typical work situation.

In addition, employers are required to perform updated monitoring whenever changes are made in production that may amplify noise levels. Recordkeeping by employers is required of each employee’s exposure measurements with a record-retention of 2 years.

HPD’s are to be furnished and paid by employers (including replacements) and must be made available to all employees who are exposed to excessive noise and time duration levels. 

There are several types of HPD's that have been designed for dissimilar environments. Employees are required to use and care for the HPD’s as trained. The employer is responsible for the enforcing the use, care and storage of HPD’s.

As part of each company’s program, OSHA requires the documentation of immediate corrective actions taken whenever hearing aptitude has worsened to an employee as well as documenting annual training for affected employees as to the effects of noise on their hearing by the means of audiometric testing. When requested, employee access to their individual test results must be furnished by the employer.

What type of HPD’s are utilized at your establishment?

When was the last time you performed a sound level survey at your establishment?

Call upon your workers compensation carrier and get a TWA of your production rooms. It should be free.

 12/14/2010 Meatingplace.com (revised 2/21/22)

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FINAL COMMENTS

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that 30 million U.S. workers are exposed to noise levels high enough to cause irreversible hearing loss. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 20,000 workplace hearing loss cases occur annually, many resulting in permanent hearing loss.

An estimated 24% of hearing loss in the United States has been attributed to workplace exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research has also shown that stronger occupational regulation of noise leads to - - - safer sound levels.

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FINAL COMMENTS

“Listening is the most dangerous thing of all, listening means knowing, finding out about something and knowing what’s going on, our ears don’t have lids that can instinctively close against the words uttered, they can’t hide from what they sense they’re about to hear, it’s always too late.” 

― Javier Marías, A Heart So White

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Currently, Steve Sayer is a workplace safety *consultant #accredited auditor to *OSHA, *EPA, *#GFSI, *USDA, *FDA, *Human Resources, *#and Humane Handling of feed birds and animals and is a technical writer for multiple industries, as well as a part-time maintenance worker for California State Beaches.

(The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the author.)

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