Buy Quiet

Buy Quiet is an American health and safety 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. Buy Quiet is part of the larger Hearing Loss Prevention Program, and is an example of Prevention Through Design, which seeks to reduce occupational injury through prevention considerations in designs that impact workers.

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. Some of such companies that been recognized for their demonstrated results from noise control and Buy Quiet initiatives, with a Safe-in-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Award The objectives of this award are to recognize effective and innovative initiatives, and to share that information to a broader community.

Noise-induced hearing loss is an irreversible condition that is 100% preventable, and over 30 million US workers are exposed to hazardous noise on the job, which makes them susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus.Noise-induced hearing loss is also the most common occupational illness in the United States. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends that workers be exposed to no more than 85 dB per eight hours per day.

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.

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