by Brianna Crandall — January 24, 2011—The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced January 19 that it is withdrawing its proposed interpretation titled “Interpretation of OSHA’s Provisions for Feasible Administrative or Engineering Controls of Occupational Noise.”
The interpretation, published in the Federal Register on October 19, 2010, would have clarified the term “feasible administrative or engineering controls” as used in OSHA’s noise standard.
“Hearing loss caused by excessive noise levels remains a serious occupational health problem in this country,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. “However, it is clear from the concerns raised about this proposal that addressing this problem requires much more public outreach and many more resources than we had originally anticipated. We are sensitive to the possible costs associated with improving worker protection and have decided to suspend work on this proposed modification while we study other approaches to abating workplace noise hazards.”
OSHA notes that thousands of workers every year continue to suffer from preventable hearing loss due to high workplace noise levels. Since 2004, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that nearly 125,000 workers have suffered significant, permanent hearing loss. In 2008 alone, BLS reported more than 22,000 hearing loss cases, and Michaels emphasized that OSHA remains committed to finding ways to reduce this toll.
As part of this effort, the agency plans to thoroughly review the comments submitted in response to the Federal Register notice; hold a stakeholder meeting on preventing occupational hearing loss; consult with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the National Academy of Engineering; and initiate a robust outreach and compliance assistance effort to provide enhanced technical information and guidance on the many inexpensive, effective engineering controls for dangerous noise levels.
More information about Hearing Conservation is available on OSHA’s Web site.
