Hearing protection for construction activities

Scope

Employees working in areas where there is the possibility of exposure to sound levels exceeding those listed in Table D-2.

Regulatory citations

• 29 CFR 1926.52 — Occupation noise exposure.

Key definitions

• Action level: An 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 decibels measured on the A-scale, slow response, or equivalently, a dose of fifty percent.
• Audiogram: A chart, graph, or table resulting from an audiometric test showing an individual’s hearing threshold levels as a function of frequency.
• Baseline audiogram: The audiogram against which future audiograms are compared.
• Decibel (dB): a unit of measurement of sound level.
• Noise dosimeter: An instrument that integrates a function of sound pressure over a period of time in such a manner that it directly indicates a noise dose.
• Representative exposure: A measurements of an employee’s noise dose or 8-hour time-weighted average sound level that the employers deem to be representative of the exposures of other employees in the workplace.
• Time-weighted average sound level: That sound level, which if constant over an 8-hour exposure, would result in the same noise dose as is measured.

Summary of requirements

Employers must:

• Assess the workplace for areas where exposure to sound levels could exceed those listed in Table D-2.
• Implement administrative or engineering controls to control the sound levels.
• If administrative or engineering controls fail to reduce sound levels within the levels Table D-2, select appropriate hearing protection to reduce sound levels.
• Provide and require employees to wear hearing protection at no cost to the employee.
• Implement a hearing conservation program where sound levels exceed the Permissible Noise Exposures in Table D-2.