Many companies implement the required elements for an OSHA standard Hearing Conservation Program, believing they have stopped noise-induced hearing loss at their workplace. But despite all the required pieces being in place, a number of workers still exhibit a shift in hearing (Standard Threshold Shift), and liability for workplace hearing loss increases.
Today’s OSHA regulations, built upon federal noise standards from 1970, adopted an eight-hour 90 dB Permissible Exposure Limit that was expected to protect only about 80 percent of noise-exposed workers.1 The remaining 20 percent would be expected to incur a material hearing impairment – certainly an unacceptable risk for employers by today’s standards.