Which guideline is recommended for pregnant workers exposed to hazardous noise?

Which guideline is recommended for pregnant workers exposed to hazardous noise?

• A. Rotate jobs for 40 weeks and permit impulse noise environments
• B. Consider job rotation for pregnant workers of 20 weeks exposed to hazardous noise; avoid impulse or impact noise environments requiring hearing protection
• C. No special guidelines
• D. Prolong exposure to loud noise with minimal protection

Answer: (B)

Protecting a pregnant worker from hazardous noise is about reducing the noise dose as pregnancy progresses. The recommendation is to consider moving her to quieter tasks through job rotation starting around the middle of the pregnancy (about 20 weeks) to limit cumulative exposure. At the same time, avoid environments with impulse or impact noise, since those short, sharp bursts can exceed safe levels more easily and place greater stress on both the mother and the developing fetus. In practice, this means shifting to lower-noise work and not relying on hearing protection alone to offset dangerous peak noises. The other options would either keep her in high-noise work for too long, ignore protective steps, or intentionally extend exposure, which is not appropriate.

Protecting a pregnant worker from hazardous noise is about reducing the noise dose as pregnancy progresses. The recommendation is to consider moving her to quieter tasks through job rotation starting around the middle of the pregnancy (about 20 weeks) to limit cumulative exposure. At the same time, avoid environments with impulse or impact noise, since those short, sharp bursts can exceed safe levels more easily and place greater stress on both the mother and the developing fetus. In practice, this means shifting to lower-noise work and not relying on hearing protection alone to offset dangerous peak noises. The other options would either keep her in high-noise work for too long, ignore protective steps, or intentionally extend exposure, which is not appropriate.