Authority and Responsibility
Environmental Health and Safety shall be responsible for:

Departments shall be responsible for:

1. Ensuring that all employees, exposed to noise levels equal to or greater than 85 dBA, have access to appropriate hearing protective devices in the work area;
2. Enforcing the use of hearing protective devices and maintaining engineering and administrative controls in designated noise hazardous areas; and
3. Scheduling audiograms and training with EHS on an annual basis for employees who are included in the Hearing Conservation Program.

Employees shall be responsible for:

1. Using hearing protection as required;
2. Participating in annual audiograms;
3. Participating in annual training;
4. Inspecting and maintaining hearing protection devices; and
5. Seeking replacement or repair of hearing protection devices when necessary.

Sound Surveys and Exposure Monitoring
Employee and/or area monitoring shall be performed when exposure is suspect of being at or above the action level of an 8-hour TWA of 85 dB.

Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) will identify work areas within IUPUI facilities where noise levels equal or exceed 85 dBA. Signs will be posted at the entrance to any work area where noise levels routinely exceed 85 dBA, requiring anyone entering the area to wear proper hearing protection.

Personnel who work in these areas shall have hearing protection supplied to them, shall be instructed in its proper use, and be required to wear this equipment when in these identified areas. It is the responsibility of the area supervisor or manager to ensure that these requirements are maintained.

Factors which suggest that noise exposures in the workplace may be at or above 85 dB include employee complaints about the loudness of noise, indications that employees are losing their hearing, or noisy conditions which make normal conversation difficult.

All continuous, intermittent, and impulsive/impact sound levels from 80 dB to 130 dB shall be incorporated into the noise measurement survey.

The degree of noise reduction required shall be determined by comparing the measured levels with acceptable noise levels as presented in Table 1.

Monitoring shall be repeated whenever a change in processes, production, equipment or controls increases noise exposure to the extent that additional employees may be exposed at or above the action level or the attenuation provided by hearing protection devices being used by employees may be rendered inadequate.

Affected employees or their representatives shall be provided an opportunity to observe any noise measurements.
Employees shall be removed from the Hearing Conservation Program once noise levels have been measured and determined to be at acceptable levels.

Table 1 indicates OSHA's permissible noise exposure limits

Table 1 - Permissible Noise Exposures

Note: Exposures to impulsive/impact noise shall not exceed 140 dB peak sound pressure level.

Noise Control Measures
When employees are subjected to sound exceeding those levels listed in Table 1, feasible engineering and administrative controls shall be utilized as the first step in noise control. If these controls fail to reduce sound to acceptable levels, hearing protection devices shall be used. During the implementation of administrative and/or engineering controls, affected employees shall be provided with hearing protection devices and trained in accordance with this program.

Administrative Controls

Administrative controls normally involve a change in work schedules or operations which reduce noise exposures. Examples include operating a noisy machine on the second or third shift when fewer people are exposed or shifting an employee to a less noisy job once a hazardous daily noise dose has been reached.

Engineering Controls

Engineering controls shall be used when any modification or replacement of equipment, or related physical change at the noise source or along the transmission path can be altered which reduces the noise level to the employee's ear.

Typical engineering controls may involve the following:

Hearing Protection Devices
Selection and Use

Hearing protective devices (ear plugs, muffs, etc.) shall be the permanent solution only when engineering or administrative controls are considered to be infeasible or not cost effective. Hearing protective devices are defined as any device that can be worn to reduce the level of sound entering the ear.

Hearing protection devices shall be made available to all employees exposed to an 8-hour TWA of 85 dB or greater at no cost to the employees and shall be replaced as necessary.

Hearing protection devices shall be worn by employees by any employee who is exposed to an 8-hour TWA of 85 dB or greater, and who has not yet had a baseline audiogram or has experienced a standard threshold shift. Employees shall be given the opportunity to select their hearing protection from a variety of suitable hearing protection devices.

Performance Information

Attenuation refers to the damping or decrease of noise levels as a result of wearing hearing protection devices. The hearing protection device attenuation shall be evaluated by EHS for the specific noise environments in which the hearing protection device will be used.

Hearing protection devices shall attenuate employee exposure to at least an eight hour time-weighted average of 90 dBA. For employees who have experienced a standard threshold shift (STS), the hearing protection device shall attenuate exposure at or below the action level of 85 dBA-TWA (time-weighted average).

Audiometric Evaluations
Audiometric evaluations shall be made available at no cost to all IUPUI employees whose exposure equals or exceeds an 8-hour TWA of 85 dB.

Prior to the audiogram, employees shall be informed to avoid high levels of non-occupational noise exposure during the 14-hour period immediately preceding the audiometric examination.

Baseline Audiograms

Baseline audiograms shall be performed within one year of an employee's first exposure at or above the action level. Employees shall wear hearing protection devices any time they are going to be exposed to workplace noise at or above the action level until a baseline audiogram is obtained.

Annual Audiograms

Audiograms shall be performed at least annually after obtaining the baseline audiogram for each employee exposed at or above the 8-hour TWA of 85 dB. Each employee's annual audiogram shall be compared to his/her baseline audiogram to determine if the audiogram is valid and if a standard threshold shift has occurred. If the annual audiogram shows that an employee has suffered a standard threshold shift, the employee may obtain a retest within 30 days and the retest results may be considered the annual audiogram. If a comparison of the annual audiogram to the baseline indicates a standard threshold shift, the employee shall be informed of this in writing within 21 days of the determination.

All audiometric tests and equipment calibration shall be performed in accordance with the criteria established by "OSHA's Occupational Noise Exposure" Standard 29 CFR 1910.95.

Information and Training
Employees who are exposed to noise at or above an 8-hour TWA of 85 dB shall receive training on the following:

Recordkeeping

Exposure Measurements

All non-medical records (i.e. work area and equipment surveys) will be maintained for a period of five years. All personnel who routinely work in designated hazardous noise areas shall be identified and a current roster of such personnel shall be maintained by their departmental management.

Audiometric Tests

Records of all employee audiometric tests shall be retained for the duration of the affected employee's employment and thirty years from the date of termination. These records will be made part of the employee’s health record. These records shall include:

1. Name and job classification of the employee;
2. Date of the audiogram;
3. The examiner's name;
4. Date of last acoustic or exhaustive calibration of the audiometer;
5. Employee's most recent noise exposure assessment; and
6. Background sound pressure level measurements in audiometric test rooms.

References

ACGIH, Threshold Limit Values and Biological Exposure Indices, Physical Agents, Noise, current edition.

Berger, E. H., et.al, Ed., Noise & Hearing Conservation Manual, 4th ed., Akron, OH: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 1986.

NIOSH, A Practical Guide to Effective Hearing Conservation Programs in the Workplace, September 1990.

OSHA, General Industry Standard, 29 CFR 1910.95, "Occupational Noise Exposure".