With the intent of being more aggressive about requiring administrative and engineering controls to reduce unacceptable exposure of workers to occupational noise, OSHA is proposing to redefine feasible administrative or engineering controls, a key regulatory term.
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Download NowSpecifically, OSHA intends to interpret the phrase as “capable of being done.”
OSHA’s general industry and construction noise standard requires that when employees are exposed to sound exceeding the permissible level, feasible administrative or engineering controls must be utilized to reduce the sound to within that level. If such controls are ineffective, personal protective equipment must be provided and used.
According to the relevant OSHA standards, engineering controls involve modifications to plant, equipment, processes, or materials that reduce the sound intensity at the source by substituting quieter machines and processes or by isolating the machine or its operator; administrative controls involve modifications of work assignments to reduce employees’ exposure to noise, such as rotating employees so that they work in noisy areas for a short time.
Under OSHA’s current enforcement policy, the agency issues citations for failure to use engineering and administrative controls only when hearing protectors are ineffective or the costs of such controls are less than the cost of an effective hearing conservation.
“This policy is contrary to the plain meaning of the standards and thwarts the safety and health purposes of the OSH Act by rarely requiring administrative and engineering controls even though these controls are affordable and generally more effective than hearing protectors in reducing noise exposure,” says OSHA.
Accordingly, OSHA is proposing to consider administrative or engineering controls economically feasible when the cost of implementing such controls will not threaten the employer’s ability to remain in business or if such a threat to viability results from the employer’s failure to meet industry safety and health standards.
OSHA’s proposed interpretation of feasible administrative or engineering controls was published in the October 19, 2010, Federal Register.