Employers contend that OSHA regulations should not cover construction workers because they tend to be transitory employees. Employers also like to argue that any hearing loss is more the result of going to loud nightclubs or using a chain saw on the weekend instead of the workplace, Jeffress said. While reducing noise is the single most difficult hazard to engineer out of a worker's environment, there are several things contractors can do, Jeffress said. Besides providing earmuffs, they can buy quieter machines, set up sound barriers, build enclosures around machines and install sound-absorbing baffling. Precautions limit the harm Years ago, Wyman Gordon Forgings in Houston installed acoustic booths to reduce noise levels, said Tim Duffy, manager of safety and health.
Employees also receive earmuffs or earplugs.
Consequently, problems are rare, he said. In the three years Duffy has worked at the plant, only one or two employees have had their hearing deteriorate enough to register a change. Their hearing loss might have been caused by hobbies, he said, but the company still listed the change on its OSHA records. It's important to manage noise because of the effect it has on people, said Jack Tuck, a maintenance mechanic at Wyman Gordon and chairman of the health and safety committee for the International Association of Machinists Local Lodge 15. Not only can it be damaging, but it can create some of the same effects of a full moon, he said.