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health hazard that demands urgent action. ■ It could utilize creative public service announcements. Information Is Plentiful There’s no shortage of information available for employers and workers who want to learn more — and do more — about hear- ing protection, including OSHA’s own webpage on workplace noise standards.4 The challenge is converting information to inspiration and action. OSHA itself has a useful online primer5 about occupational noise exposure, as well as guidance on using leading indicators.6 My organization, the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), has long maintained a hearing-protection page on our website. Additionally, The New York Times published an excel- lent June 9, 2023, article about what noise does to the human body, “Noise Could Take Years Off Your Life. Here’s How.”7 NIOSH, the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), and the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC), have partnered to recognize companies that go above and beyond in their workplace hearing conservation efforts. The Safe-in-Sound AwardsTM “honor excel- lent hearing loss prevention (HLP) practices in the work environ- ment,” according to the partnership’s website, safeinsound.us. Other resources employers can use to promote best practices in hearing loss prevention include annual observance periods, such as National Protect Your Hearing Month (October) and World Hearing Day (March 3). Plus, The Hearing Journal fea- tured an excellent article on Total Hearing Health.8 Scope of the Problem NIOSH notes that all industries have hearing risks,9 with 22 mil- lion U.S. workers exposed to hazardous noise levels at work each year and 30 million exposed to ototoxic or hearing-hazardous chemicals. The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) explains that, although OSHA set the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for construction noise to 90 A-weighted decibels (dBA) over an eight-hour period, “NIHL often results from extended exposure to sound levels at or above 85 dBA, and can even occur at lower exposure levels.”10 CPWR reports that hearing loss varies by occupation but in- creases with age. ■ Using NIOSH data, CPWR determined “that construction workers have the highest prevalence of hearing loss of any industry except for mining. Among construction workers tested between 2003 and 2012, 16.3 percent had hearing impairment compared to 12.9 percent among all industries. It is estimated that hearing loss leads to more than three disability-adjusted life years per 1,000 construction workers, the second highest among all industries.” ■ “Among construction workers ages 18-25 years surveyed 82 SERIES GOGGLE CLIP GUARD® FOR BACK OF CAPSTYLE AND CLIMBING HELMETS SEE US AT NSC, BOOTH #1529 wwUwn.toitlheds-o5nl1ine.com OCTOBER 2023 | Occupational Health9&/1S8/a2f3ety12:11 P3M3