Construction

ANSI/ASSE Unveil Standard for Hearing

March 8, 2007

A standard approved March 5 by the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recognizes the need for protecting personnel from injury by preventing hearing loss in construction and demolition operations.

Josh Cable

ANSI/ASSE A10.46-2007 – Hearing Loss Prevention in Construction and Demolition Workers – is one of a series of standards that focus on construction and demolition operations.

The standard is intended to help employers prevent occupational hearing loss among construction and demolition workers and applies to all construction and demolition workers with potential noise exposures (continuous, intermittent and impulse) of 85 decibels, A-weighted (dBA), and above.

ASSE serves as the secretariat for the A10 Accredited Standards Committee on construction and demolition operations. The A10 standards serve as a guide to contractors, labor and equipment manufacturers in the construction and demolition industry.

“Approximately 30 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise on the job and construction workers are often susceptible to occupational hearing loss,” said A10 Committee Chairman and ASSE professional member Richard King, CSP. “This standard recognizes the hazards of noise exposure in construction and demolition operations and provides necessary recommendations for preventing hearing loss in those operations.”

A10.46-2007 standard will be available soon in both print and electronic format. For more information, contact ASSE Customer Service at (847) 699-2929 or visit ASSE’s Web site.