The Occupational Safety and Health administration Occupational noise exposure standard and hearing conservation amendment 29CFR 1910.95 require employers to establish and maintain a Hearing Conservation Program (HCP) for all employees whose noise exposure equals or exceeds an 8 hour time weighted average sound level (TWA) of 85 dB. Your company can achieve compliance by following a few relatively simple steps.
- Assess Risk of Exposure
Noise exposure monitoring, or noise measurement, is required to determine which workers are at risk for excessive exposure to noise. It is important that monitoring taken into account anything the worker may do during the workday that can contribute to his/her overall noise level. Workers must be enrolled in a Hearing Conservation Program (HCP), at no cost to them when;
• Their noise exposure is 85 dBA (action level) or greater averaged over an 8 hour workday (TWA).
• The maximum sound level is 115 dBA or greater; or
• Peak (impact) noise levels are 140 dB or greater.
- Test Hearing
Part of the HCP is an annual assessment of hearing called an audiogram. Each worker in the HCP area must get a baseline audiogram within 6 months of starting work. This will determine how well he/she hears before they are exposed to noise by this employer. The audiogram is then repeated yearly, with the most recent test results compared to the baseline to check for changes. These tests are performed by an audiologist or a qualified person who has received special training in hearing testing.
- Hearing Protection Devices (HPD)
The employer must make a variety of HPDs available at no cost to the worker, and must replace them as necessary.
- Training
Workers in HCP must receive annual training in the effects of noise on hearing, aspects of HPD use (including purpose, use, care, applicability, advantages selection, fitting and noise reduction values), the purpose for testing hearing, and explanation of the testing procedure.
- Noise Controls
The Hearing Conservation Amendment requires the implementation of feasible engineering and/or administrative controls where exposures exceed 90 dBA TWA.