On Oct. 19, 2010, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a proposed reinterpretation of the Occupational Noise Exposure standards for general industry and construction. The proposed reinterpretation would have required employers to implement feasible engineering or administrative controls to reduce noise exposure to permissible levels unless the expense of such controls somehow would put an employer out of business. On Jan. 19, OSHA announced that although [h]earing loss caused by excessive noise levels remains a serious occupational health problem in the country, it decided to suspend work on this proposed modification while we study other approaches to abating workplace noise hazards. During this 90-minute webinar, legal and industry experts will discuss the issues related to hearing loss in the workplace and whether current standards are sufficiently protective. The webinar is designed to help you:
Michael T. Taylor, Robert Anderson, and Daniel K. Shipp
Michael T. Taylor is an attorney with Arent Fox LLP. Mike focuses on all aspects of occupational safety and health law. He represents employers and trade associations during federal and state OSHA enforcement litigation and rulemaking proceedings. He also provides OSHA inspection counseling, safety and health compliance counseling, catastrophe management, safety and health audits, safety and health due diligence reviews, and whistleblower representation for clients. In addition, he represents employers and trade associations in a wide range of industries, including, but not limited to, health care, chemical, petrochemical, electric utility, manufacturing, construction, and food services. Mike has participated in hundreds of OSHA inspections and helped defend employers on a broad range of issues including, but not limited to, alleged violations of the General Duty Clause; Permit-Required Confined Space; Hazard Communication; Personal Protective Equipment; Machine Guarding; Flammable and Combustible Liquids; Lockout/Tagout; Process Safety Management; Combustible Dust; and Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution standards. He represented a major trade association in response to OSHAs Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Combustible Dust (74 FR 54334, 10/21/09). He also represented a major trade association in response to OSHAs Proposed Rule regarding the Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution standard (70 FR 34821, 6/15/05). He currently is representing a number of petrochemical facilities in response to OSHA's Petroleum Refinery Process Safety Management National Emphasis Program, CPL 03-00-010 (8/18/09).
Robert Anderson is principal and co-founder of Anderson Consulting Associates, a noise control consulting firm in Lansing, Michigan. He has been actively involved in the field of noise control for over 30 years, supervising and participating in projects related to control of occupational and community noise in industry. His experience includes noise control within the agricultural implement, appliance, automotive, brewing, chemical, material handling, petroleum, pharmaceutical, plastics, and rubber manufacturing industries. He currently is involved in developing programs to integrate hearing health awareness and noise control into corporate and labor cultures. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University, specializing in Noise Control, and Plant and Environmental Engineering. He is an instructor at GM University; a guest lecturer at The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences of Wayne State University and at the University of Michigans School of Public Health; and an adjunct faculty member of Central Michigan University, where he teaches sound exposure monitoring and hearing loss prevention programs to audiology graduate students.
Daniel K. Shipp is president of the International Safety Equipment Association, the trade association in the United States for manufacturers of personal protective equipment and clothing for workers. ISEA develops consensus product standards for safety equipment, represents the industry before legislative and regulatory bodies, and designs and conducts market information programs for its members and users of personal protective equipment. As the senior staff officer of the association since 1993, Dan manages this program of standardization, government and international relations, and market growth for the safety equipment industry. He represents U.S. safety equipment manufacturers before Congress and U.S. regulatory agencies, as well as global government and industry forums.