In Focus
News Releases

• Where can I find information about noise and its health effects?
• Where can I find information to help me evaluate noise exposure?
• Where can I find information to help me control noise exposure?
• Where can I find compliance information, including regulations and standards?

• Noise and Hearing Conservation (general information)

• Construction Noise: Exposure, Effects, and the Potential for Remediation; A Review and Analysis. Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Safety and Health (eLOCOSH) (2002). Also available as a 301 KB PDF, 22 pages. This article, taken from AIHA Journal (63) November/December 2002, discusses the potential hazards associated with noise in the construction industry.
• Construction Noise. The Center to Protect Workers' Rights (CPWR) (2001), 2 pages. This hazard alert reviews information related to exposure levels and provides suggestions for protection.
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publications on Noise and Hearing Loss Prevention, Charts and Graphical Representations:
  • Average 25-year-old Carpenter. This chart shows that the average 25-year-old carpenter has the ears of a 50-year-old person who has not been exposed to noise.
  • Carpenter's Noise Exposures. This chart depicts noise levels measured from typical tools used in construction.
  • Age of Carpenter & Hearing Loss. This charts depicts typical hearing losses of unprotected carpenters over time.
  • Sound Meter. An interactive graphic demonstrating noise levels.

• Health Hazard Evaluations: Noise and Hearing Loss, 1986-1997. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) (1998, November), NIOSH Publication No. 99-106, 12 pages. This document presents summaries, by industry, of different health hazard evaluations relating to noise.
  • 72 KB PDF (Portable Document Format)

• Noise Management in the Construction Industry: A Practical Approach. Safetyline: Online, WorkSafe Western Australia (1999, March 19), 5 pages. A preventative management program that includes noise control aspects for all four stages of a construction project.
  • 12 KB PDF (Portable Document Format)

OSHA Regulations and Compliance Information

• OSHA Standards
  • 1926.52, Occupational noise exposure.
  • 1926.101, Hearing protection.
• OSHA Federal Registers
  • Announcement of Stakeholders Meetings for Hearing Conservation Program for Construction Workers. OSHA Federal Register Entry 69:31777-31778 (2004, June 07). OSHA invites the public to participate in informal stakeholder meetings on a Hearing Conservation Program for Construction Workers. These planned meetings will continue OSHA's information collection efforts and will add to the information obtained in the stakeholder meetings conducted in Chicago, Illinois on March 24 and 25, 2004.
  • Hearing Conservation Program for Construction Workers. OSHA Federal Register Entry 67:50610-50618 (2002, August 05), 17 pages. OSHA is considering rulemaking to revise the construction noise standards to include a hearing conservation component for the construction industry that provides a similar level of protection to that afforded to workers in general industry.
• Review Commission and Administrative Law Judge Decisions
  • The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) is an independent Federal agency created to resolve contests of citations or penalties resulting from OSHA inspections of American workplaces. To locate decisions related to this topic, search for keywords at the OSHRC site.
• OSHA Standard Interpretations and Compliance Letters
  • Search for OSHA standard interpretations and compliance letters related to noise.

Other Standards and Guidelines

• American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Search for noise standards using relevant keywords at the ANSI website.

	In Focus
News Releases OSHA Schedules Second Set of Stakeholder Meetings on Hearing Conservation for Construction Workers. OSHA Trade News Release (2004, June 04), 2 pages. OSHA invites the public to participate in a second set of informal stakeholder meetings next month for discussions on reducing noise exposures and hearing loss of workers in the construction industry.