The OSHA standard for occupational exposure to noise (29 CFR 1910.95)38 specifies a maximum PEL of 90 dB(A)-slow response for a duration of eight hours per day.

Man, I want some hazard pay.
They are jackhammering the concrete steps outside my building because -one- is broken. It is currently 3:00pm. They have been doing this since 10:00am. Typical construction work. One guy jackhammering, 4 guys standing around "supervising".

According to this document,(http://www.eh.doe.gov/NEPA/docs/deis/EIS0336/chapters/chap4-9.pdf) page 2, the peak noise level of a jackhammer is 108dB. I am certainly less than 50 feet from this jackhammer.. I'm on the second floor and the front steps are conviniently located directly below my office. So I'm somewhere between 88-108dB for the last 7 hours (and counting). I'm sure this is damaging my hearing. My desk and floor have been shaking all day.

Complaints to maintenance have done nothing. Why can't they do this work on 2nd, or even 3rd, shift? Weekends, maybe?

Yes, I'm wearing earplugs. And NC headphones. I'd also like to know why there are no earplug dispensers in my building. I had to go across the street to get earplugs. This is a SHIPYARD, every building should have earplug dispensers!

This will be going on all week, and I'm not surprised. Those concrete steps are pretty serious business.

What does it take to get companies to take hearing loss more seriously? It seems to me like the hazards that exist in the shipyard are taken much more seriously than the hazards in the offices, and I'm not even saying that to be funny. Of course there are more hazards "down in the yard" than "up on the hill", but when we called the director of maintenance this morning, he sort of brushed it off with an "I'll send someone up to check it out" and we never heard from him again. And when I say "we", I don't mean "me and some secretaries", I mean, "I let the angry department head who was trying to have a meeting in the conference room near my office use my phone to call in some complaints". I can't help but think that if there was unbearable noise in the yard, they would have taken care of it post-haste.

I WANT RESPECT, DAMMIT!