Title 49: Transportation
PART 227—OCCUPATIONAL NOISE EXPOSURE
Subpart B—Occupational Noise Exposure for Railroad Operating Employees.
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§ 227.117 Hearing protector attenuation.
(a) 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.”
(b) Hearing protectors shall attenuate employee exposure to an 8-hour TWA of 90 decibels or lower, as required by §227.115.
(c) 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.
(d) 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.
