§227.117. Hearing protector attenuation.
49 C.F.R. § 227.117
A railroad shall evaluate hearing protector attenuation for the specific noise environments in which the protector will be used. The railroad shall use one of the evaluation methods described in appendix B of this part; “Methods for Estimating the Adequacy of Hearing Protector Attenuation.”
Hearing protectors shall attenuate employee exposure to an 8-hour TWA of 90 decibels or lower, as required by § 227.115.
For employees who have experienced a standard threshold shift, hearing protectors must attenuate employee exposure to an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 decibels or lower.
The adequacy of hearing protector attenuation shall be re-evaluated whenever employee noise exposures increase to the extent that the hearing protectors provided may no longer provide adequate attenuation. A railroad shall provide more effective hearing protectors where necessary.
Notes, amendments, and revision history
Authority
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 20103, 20103 note, 20166, 20701-20703, 21301, 21302, 21304; 28 U.S.C. 2461 note; and 49 CFR 1.89.
Source
Source: 71 FR 63123, Oct. 27, 2006, unless otherwise noted.