Personal Injury Law

Construction Safety - Construction Worker Hearing Loss: Prevention and Protection

By Justin Rogers

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 requires employers to ensure the safety of their employees within the work environment. Within the construction industry, work-related hearing loss is a significant health and safety issue. Approximately 30 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise while at work. In order to prevent work-related hearing loss, employers should take advantage of personal protective equipment (PPE) designed to protect hearing and establish a hearing conservation program. While the most effective way to prevent work-related hearing loss is to simply eliminate hazardous noise from the workplace, this is often infeasible.

Hearing protection devices are specifically designed to reduce the level of sound that reaches the eardrum. There is a wide range of hearing protection products available, many of which are inexpensive. Hearing protection is offered in the form of either plugs or muffs, and is available in a number of different sizes. When selecting the hearing protector, selection should be based on which size and type of protector best suits the working environment.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's hearing conservation program is designed to protect workers from hearing impairment when they are exposed to hazardous noise levels. A hearing conservation program requires monitoring, audiometric testing, hearing protectors, training, and recordkeeping requirements.

An employer is required to provide hearing protectors to all workers exposed to 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) noise levels of 85 dB (decibels) or above. Normal conversation has a sound intensity of about 60 dB, whereas a jet engine during takeoff has a sound intensity of about 140 dB. Determining the sound intensity within the workplace to select proper hearing protection requires monitoring of noise exposures within the workplace and also individual employee audiometric testing to monitor an individual employee's hearing over time. To properly monitor employee noise exposure, an employer should perform initial baseline audiograms, followed by annual audiograms for each employee.

Employers are required to keep all noise exposure measurement records for two years, and must also maintain records of audiometric test results for each employee for the duration of the affected employee's employment. Additionally, employers are also required to make record when an employee's audiometric results show a decrease in overall hearing.

Employers are also required to train all affected employees at least annually. Employees should be trained in the effect of noise and the advantages and disadvantages of different types of hearing protection. Also, employees should be trained in the selection, fit, and care of hearing protectors.

Remember: hearing loss resulting from exposure to hazardous noise levels is wholly preventable, but once acquired, it is permanent and irreversible.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on July 27, 2008 (boomark / email).