Buy Quiet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Buy Quiet is an American safety and health initiative to select and purchase the lowest noise emitting power tools and machinery in order to reduce occupational and community noise exposure. Buy Quiet Programs are examples of noise control strategies. Organizations that have embarked upon the buy-quiet initiative are moving towards the creation of an environment and workplace where there will be no harmful noise. Many companies are automating equipment or setting up procedures that can be operated by workers from a quiet control room free from harmful noise, chemical agents, and heat.[1]

The EPA Buy Quiet Program

A formal Buy Quiet program of the late 1970s and early 1980s was a cooperative effort of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP), and the National League of Cities (NLC). This program represented a marked departure from the regulatory approach that the U.S. Government still uses to compel the manufacture and sales of products that are less harmful to human health. Instead of regulations, the EPA/NIGP/NLC initiative used the power of high volume procurements by governments at all levels to stimulate a market demand for quiet products. This market-based, incentive-driven approach enabled federal, state, and local governments to purchase quieter products and equipment at competitive prices, by awarding procurements to the lowest "effective bid price”. The effective bid price adjusted the monetary bid price by the sound level of the bidder's equipment in comparison to the average level of all bidders' proposals. Products purchased under this program included construction equipment, lawn and garden equipment, trash trucks/compactors, chain saws, and similar noise generating equipment. The program was part of an initiative to help localities create "quiet communities". States and localities that participated were encouraged also to promote similar Buy Quiet procurements by private sector organizations in their jurisdictions as a way of "spreading" the market.[2]

The NIGP/NIGP/NLC Buy Quiet program extended the concepts of "social marketing" to include the creation of markets for socially and environmentally responsible products. It did this by combining incentivized procurements with the development of a national database of buy quiet purchases available to all interested parties. This database demonstrated that incentivized procurements could achieve quiet products at competitive prices. In fact, the lowest "bid price" was most often the lowest "effective bid price" and quiet products were indicative of high quality and high performing products. The incentive mechanism was also used to purchase low maintenance and low energy products, and is adaptable to other sustainable product initiatives. The Buy Quiet program ended with the dissolution of the Office of Noise Abatement and Control in EPA during the Reagan Administration.[3]

Modern Buy Quiet

In July 2007, New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection promulgated rules concerning citywide construction noise mitigation. These new rules reward contractors deploying tools and machinery that use the best available noise control technologies, are designed for quiet, or are known to be the quietest available models of their type. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection released a products and vendor guidance sheet in order to assist contractors for achieving compliance with the New York City Noise Regulations.[4]

In 2009, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) implemented a Buy Quiet program, which makes use of an online tool called the NASA Buy-Quiet Roadmap.[5]

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) researchers have developed a searchable database describing noise emission levels of powered hand tools. The database is called the NIOSH Power Tools Database.

The Laborers' Health and Safety Fund of North America indicates buying quieter equipment as a cost-effective way to reduce noise at a construction worksite in its Best Practices Guide on Controlling Noise on Construction Sites.[6]

Noise-induced hearing loss is an irreversible condition that is 100% preventable, and over 30 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise on the job, which makes them susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/96-110/pdfs/96-110.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.nonoise.org/epa/Roll10/roll10doc42.pdf
  3. ↑ . JSTOR 3342950.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/pdf/construction_guidance.pdf
  5. ↑ http://buyquietroadmap.com/buy-quiet-purchasing/
  6. ↑ http://www.lhsfna.org/index.cfm?objectid=FE76D86F-D56F-E6FA-99A606116D8792FC
  7. ↑ http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/noise.asp
  8. ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.