July 31, 2002

By Peter H. Wald, MD, MPH
Board-Certified, Occupational Medicine, Medical Toxicology, Internal Medicine
Principal, WorkCare

It is estimated that about 5 million workers are potentially exposed to hazardous noise exposures on the job. [1] , [2] It is well proven that exposure to excessive noise can cause hearing loss.  According to Robert Dobie, MD, a contributing author of Physical and Biological Hazards of the Workplace , noise may also contribute to cardiovascular disorders, and is considered a generalized stressor [3] .  Given the harmful effects of noise, it comes to no surprise that The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), as well as industry occupational health/safety leaders, has named hearing loss one of the 21 priority areas for research in the next century.  Given the importance of this issue, preventive measures must be taken by employers and workers to ensure the protection of workers' hearing.  This article provides web resources and guidelines to help occupational health/safety managers develop a hearing conservation program.

Noise in the Workplace

The good news is that temporary noise-induced hearing loss is 100 percent preventable.  The bad news is that, if noise exposure continues for a long period, hearing loss is permanent and irreversible. 

While any worker can be at risk for noise-induced hearing loss in the workplace, workers in certain industries have higher exposures to dangerous levels of noise.

Shown below are manufacturing industries in the United States that are responsible for most hazardous occupational noise exposure. 3 Other industries, such as fishing, forestry and construction, have less than 50% of their workers exposed to hazardous noise.

Primary Manufacturing Industries Responsible

For Most Hazardous Occupational Noise

Hearing conservation is an important aspect of the overall safety and health program.  OSHA's Regulation (Standards - 29 CFR) Occupational noise exposure. - 1910.95, is designed to protect workers with significant occupational noise exposures from suffering material hearing impairment.

OSHA requires all employers with employees exposed to noise above the action level of 85 dBA (averaged over an eight-hour work shift) to develop a formal hearing conservation program including the following elements:

·         Noise Monitoring

·         Audiometric Testing

·         Audiogram Evaluation

·         Hearing Protectors

·         Training

·         Recordkeeping

The following Internet resources provide guidelines for establishing a hearing conservation program, and contain important updates about related recordkeeping provisions.

Government Resources

A one-stop OSHA page this lists resources for recognition of noise hazards, evaluation methods, controls, compliance standards, and OSHA directives.

http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/noisehearingconservation/

This information booklet by OSHA is on occupational noise and provides a generic, non-exhaustive overview of the OSHA hearing conservation program.

http://www.osha-slc.gov/Publications/osha3074.html

This link is OSHA's Occupational Noise Regulation (Standards - 29 CFR)
Occupational noise exposure. - 1910.95

http://www.oshaslc.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9735

Recent Update-- This link provides the final rule regarding OSHA's hearing loss recording provisions of the Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements rule published January 19, 2001 (66 FR 5916-6135), scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2003 (66 FR 52031-52034).

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=17313&p_text_version=FALSE

This is a handy checklist by NIOSH to evaluate your hearing conservation program.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hpprgmch.html

This document summarizes a series of investigations conducted through NIOSH's Health Hazard Evaluation program. 

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/99-106pd.html ?

This site provides information about the environmental noise-related activities of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and provides links to other CDC programs and to non-CDC organizations that address the health effects of noise. 

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hsb/noise/

Public/Private Resources

A handy sample of hearing conservation program by the University of Colorado .  This document works as a template that allows you to customize the program per your company/organization.

http://www.bernardino.colostate.edu/OHSS/OHSSHandouts/ohss_SampHearingCons_Program.pdf

The Noise Pollution Clearinghouse is a national non-profit organization with extensive online noise related resources. The Noise Pollution Clearinghouse seeks to: raise awareness about noise pollution, create, collect, and distribute information and resources regarding noise pollution, strengthen laws and governmental efforts to control noise pollution, establish networks among environmental, professional, medical, governmental.

http://www.nonoise.org/

This site from the workers' compensation board of British Columbia provides information about hearing conservation and noise control for workers and employers. This site is continually being updated.

http://hearingconservation.healthandsafetycentre.org/s/Home.asp

This booklet is a collaborative effort between the National Safety Council and NIOSH, and offers general guidance to workers about protecting their hearing.

http://www.nsc.org/pubs/sw.htm ?

This site contains publications, educational materials, lists of related web site and plenty of training materials associated with hearing conservation and hearing loss prevention. The site is authored by the National Hearing Conservation Association, the only national organization dedicated to prevent hearing loss due to noise and other environmental factors in all sectors of society.   http://www.hearingconservation.org/

This article is designed to provide you with the resources you need to maintain or develop a reliable hearing conservation program.  Save this article in your hearing conservation or safety folder so that you can have quick access to numerous resources when developing, updating, revising or evaluating your plan.

Endnotes

[1] Frank R. Number of workers exposed to occupational noise.  Seminars in Hearing 1988; 9:287-97

[2] US Department of Labor-Occupational Safety and Health Administration.  Occupational noise exposure:  hearing conservation amendment.  Fed Register 1981; 46:4078-179.

[3] Dobie RA.  Noise In:  Physical and Biological Hazards of the Workplace , Edited by Peter H. Wald and Gregg M. Stave, Second Edition, 2002; 17:279-290