Title: | Noise Hazard Assessment and Control | Publication date: | 6/24/2020 | Effective date: | 6/24/2020 |
POLICYA. PurposeThe Noise Hazard Assessment and Control Program at Berkeley Lab ensures personnel are protected from noise hazards by: - Evaluating potential noise hazards
- Implementing noise-reduction controls where feasible and providing hearing protection
- Performing periodic hearing examinations
- Providing hearing-protection training and
- Identifying high-noise areas with signage
B. Persons AffectedBerkeley Lab employees, visitors, affiliates, and subcontractors who could be performing work in or around high-noise sources C. ExceptionsNot applicable D. Policy StatementIt is the policy of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) to maintain work environments that will not adversely affect the health, safety, and well-being of Berkeley Lab workers. Other on-site workers such as construction contractors are required to have similar programs to protect their employees. The Berkeley Lab Noise Hazard Assessment and Control Program requires the use of engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment to maintain employees' occupational noise-exposure levels below the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Value (TLV); and requires compliance with California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) regulatory requirements. Employees exposed to noise levels at or above the ACGIH TLV will be enrolled in the Noise Hazard Assessment and Control Program. E. Roles and ResponsibilitiesRole | Responsibilities | Workers | Request an exposure assessment when a concern is present regarding potential noise exposure, and follow all guidance provided in training and work processes to evaluate and control exposures | Supervisors and Work Leads | Request an exposure assessment when a concern is present regarding potential exposure; and ensure that persons within their areas of responsibility comply with this policy and its implementing documents, and have completed the required training prior to beginning work | Industrial Hygienist | Facilitates appropriate noise surveys and/or sampling | Health Services | Provides audiometric testing and maintains enrollment in the Noise Hazard Assessment and Control Program |
F. Definitions/AcronymsSee the ES&H Manual Noise Hazard Assessment and Control program for technical terms related to the details of this policy and its implementation. Term | Definition | ACGIH | American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists | CCR | Code of California Regulations | Exposure Assessment | The process of defining exposure profiles and judging the acceptability of workplace exposures to environmental agents. These assessments may be quantitative, semi-quantitative, or qualitative. These assessments are generally conducted by an EHS professional, which may include industrial hygienists or safety engineers. These assessments may be conducted for representative employees and are not required to be conducted for each individual. In all cases, employees have full access to exposure monitoring information, including situations where an individual's exposure is not monitored. | Threshold Limit Value (TLV) | TLVs for noise refer to sound pressure levels and durations of exposure to which nearly all workers may be repeatedly exposed without adverse effect. These values are developed and published by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). |
G. Recordkeeping RequirementsEHS is responsible for keeping records of the following: - Audiometric evaluation
- Training records
- Noise hazard evaluations
- Exposure monitoring results
H. Implementing DocumentsDocument number | Title | Type | 07.07.022.001 | Noise Hazard Assessment and Control | Program | 07.07.022.002 | Work Process A, General Requirements | Process | 07.07.022.003 | Work Process B, Noise Monitoring and Hazard Assessment | Process | 07.07.022.004 | Work Process C, Controlling Nuisance Noise | Process | 07.07.022.005 | Work Process D, Controlling Hazardous Noise | Process | 07.07.022.006 | Work Process E, Audiometric Testing and Hearing Conservation Training | Process |
EHS Subject Matter Expert for Noise/Hearing Conservation
EHS Division J. Revision HistoryDate | Revision | By whom | Revision Description | Section(s) affected | Change Type | 1/2/2012 | 0 | H. Toor | Rewrite for wiki (brief) | All | Minor | 6/18/2013 | 1 | H. Toor | Rewrite for wiki (policy) | All | Minor | | 6/15/2020 | 1.1 | H. Toor | Reference update to Cal/OSHA to reflect 10 CFR variance | D, Source Documents | Minor |
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