b'SafetyCAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? PREVENTING HEARING LOSS IN THE WORKPLACEWilliam McCaffreyM ore than 48 million people arethen can PPE be used to further lower employee affectedbyhearinglossinnoise exposure. Hearing protection in the form of the United States. One of the mostear plugs or ear muffs should be a last resort after common causes of hearing loss isengineering and administrative controls have been exposuretoloudnoise,referredused.to as noise induced hearing loss.Like most OSHA health standards, the standard The Centers for Disease Control and Preventiononoccupationalnoiseexposurestartswithan have called noise induced hearing loss the mostexposure assessment. There are two trigger levels common work-related injury. Workers in the mining,in the noise standard: a permissible exposure limit construction, and manufacturing industries are mostof 90 decibels, measured on the A scale (90 dBA); likely to be exposed to dangerous levels of noise.and an action level of 85 dBA. Both are measured Many times, hearing loss is accompanied by tinnitus,using an 8-hour, time-weighted average (TWA). a ringing in the ears that can affect concentrationNoise exposure can be determined with a sound and disrupt sleep. Exposure to loud noise also canlevel meter for area sampling, or with a personal cause stress, anxiety, high blood pressure, heartnoise dosimeter worn by employees for a full shift disease, depression, and other health issues. that determines their dose of noise exposure Engineering and administrative controls are(100% dose is equal to the permissible exposure not just a recommended best practice, they arelimit of 90 dBA TWA). NIOSH has a free app that required by federal regulation when noise levelsturns your phone into a sound level meter (currently are too high. OSHAs standard on occupationalonly available for iOS devices). A good rule of thumb noise exposure states that feasible administrative oris that you may have a noise problem if workers engineering controls must be utilized first, and onlyhave to shout to communicate with each other.6 www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer'