Many employers use personal protective equipment (PPE) such as ear plugs or ear muffs to reduce employee exposure to damaging sound as their first line of defense. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states in 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1910.95(b)(1) that, “. . . feasible administrative or engineering controls shall be utilized to control employee exposure to high sound levels and PPE should only be used when these controls fail to reduce sound levels below regulatory standards." While it may seem simpler to consider ear plugs or muffs for workers when noise levels exceed OSHA’s action […]