OBJECTIVE: This field study aimed to assess the noise reduction of hearing protection for individual workers, demonstrate the effectiveness of training on the level of protection achieved, and measure the time required to implement hearing protector fit testing in the workplace. DESIGN: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted field studies in Louisiana and Texas to test the performance of HPD Well-Fit. STUDY SAMPLE: Fit tests were performed on 126 inspectors and engineers working in the offshore oil industry. RESULTS: Workers were fit tested with the goal of achieving a 25-dB PAR. Less than half of the workers were achieving sufficient protection from their hearing protectors prior to NIOSH intervention and training; following re-fitting and re-training, over 85% of the workers achieved sufficient protection. Typical test times were 6-12 minutes. CONCLUSIONS: Fit testing of the workers' earplugs identified those workers who were and were not achieving the desired level of protection. Recommendations for other hearing protection solutions were made for workers who could not achieve the target PAR. The study demonstrates the need for individual hearing protector fit testing and addresses some of the barriers to implementation.

We conducted a laboratory test to characterize dust from cutting Corian(R), a solid-surface composite material, with a circular saw. Air samples were collected using filters and direct-reading instruments in an automatic laboratory testing system. The average mass concentrations of the total and respirable dusts from the filter samples were 4.78+/-0.01 and 1.52+/-0.01mg cm-3, respectively, suggesting about 31.8% mass of the airborne dust from cutting Corian(R) is respirable. Analysis of the metal elements on the filter samples reveals that aluminum hydroxide is likely the dominant component of the airborne dust from cutting Corian(R), with the total airborne and respirable dusts containing 86.0+/-6.6 and 82.2+/-4.1% aluminum hydroxide, respectively. The results from the direct-reading instruments confirm that the airborne dust generated from cutting Corian(R) were mainly from the cutting process with very few particles released from the running circular saw alone. The number-based size distribution of the dusts from cutting Corian(R) had a peak for fine particles at 1.05 microm with an average total concentration of 871.9 particles cm-3, and another peak for ultrafine particles at 11.8nm with an average total concentration of 1.19x106 particles cm-3. The small size and high concentration of the ultrafine particles suggest additional investigation is needed to study their chemical composition and possible contribution to pulmonary effect.