Page 61 - Occupational Health & Safety, May 2018

HEARING PROTECTION
NIOSH, OSHA Release Guidance on Ototoxicity
Some ototoxic chemicals may exacerbate noise-induced hearing loss even though the noise level is below OSHA’s PEL, the document warns. BY JERRY LAWS
www.ohsonline.com
MAY 2018 | Occupational Health & Safety 57
Adocument1 posted by NIOSH on March 15, 2018, and credited both to NIOSH and OSHA offers guidance for preventing hear- ing loss that is caused by ototoxic chemicals and noise exposure.
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication Number 2018-124, a Safety and Health Information Bulletin, lists five ex- amples of substance classes of ototoxic chemicals:
■ pharmaceuticals
■ solvents
■ asphyxiants
■ nitriles
■ metals and compounds
Mercury compounds and lead are among the chemicals listed in the metals and compounds class. The asphyxiants listed include carbon monoxide, to- bacco smoke, and hydrogen cyanide and its salts.
“There is growing concern among occupational health and safety professionals that ototoxicant-in- duced hearing loss may go unrecognized since the measure for hearing loss does not indicate the cause,” the five-page document states. “For example, audio- metric tests are powerful tools that show hearing im- pairments (i.e., threshold shifts); however, they do not differentiate between noise and ototoxic causes.”
It points out that harmful exposure to ototoxicant
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