OSHA is making a racket about noise: What it means for employers

OSHA is making noise about noise and industrial employers need to be thinking about how they might retrofit plants as a result.

So says my colleague Mike Taubitz in the cover story of this month’s OHS magazine.

More from Mike, who knows whereof he speaks — he is former Global Safety Director for General Motors and is now a Senior Advisor to FDRsafety:

“Industry has had nearly three decades of relative peace and quiet with its noise control programs. Since 1983, OSHA has typically not cited employers who deployed personal protective equipment and a hearing conservation program to address noise, rather than using engineering and administrative controls.

“The exceptions were for noise so loud that it borders on 100 dBA when the most effective hearing protection is used or in cases where the controls cost less than an effective hearing conservation program. In practice, controls are usually more expensive, so citations for failure to use them have been rare. However, that could change.

“Employers in construction and general industry are likely to have a new category of expenses — and potential OSHA citations — to worry about if the agency’s “proposed interpretation” on noise regulations goes into effect.

“That’s because OSHA now proposes to interpret 29 CFR 1910.95(b)(1) and 1926.52(b) as written.”

To learn more, read the rest of Mike’s article about OSHA’s proposed interpretation of noise regulations.