Hearing Conservation Safety Program
Chapter Section
Purpose
The purpose of this program is to provide a process to minimize employee-hearing loss caused by excessive occupational exposure to noise.
Scope
This program is applicable to all employees who may be exposed to noise in excess of 85 decibels (decibels). When work is performed on a non-owned or operated site, the operator’s program shall take precedence, however, this document covers Your Company Name employees and contractors and shall be used on owned premises, or when an operator’s program doesn’t exist or is less stringent.
Definitions
Audiometric testing – means detection by the person being tested of a series of pure tones. For each tone, the person indicates the lowest level of intensity that they are able to perceive.
Decibels – means the sound energy measured by a sound level meter using the “A” scale. The “A” scale is electronically weighted to simulate the response of the human ear to high and low frequency noise.
Slow Response – means the setting on the sound level meter that averages out impulses of brief duration that would cause wide fluctuation in the sound level meter reading.
Standard Threshold Shift – means a change in hearing threshold relative to the baseline audiogram of an average of 10 dB (corrected for age) at 2000, 3000 and 4000 Hz in either ear.
