Occupational noise legislation in Asia-Pacific region

To prevent hearing loss for workers exposed to intense workplace noise, occupational noise laws have been enacted in many countries. However, for the legislations on occupational safety and health in Europe and the Americas, it seems that "permissible exposure limit (PEL: 8-hour average)", "exchange rate (ER)", "upper limit of impact noise", and other requirements for occupational noise exposure are not unified at present. On the other hand, few reports have been published in English on laws and regulations related to occupational noise in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, in this paper, the outlines of PEL, ER, " upper limit of impact noise ", "wearing personal protective equipment", " audiometric test request", "penalties", etc. for occupational noise in the Asia-Pacific region were summarized. As in Europe and the Americas, many countries of the investigated Asia-Pacific region use 85dBA or 90dBA PELs, 3dB or 5dB ERs and upper limit of 140 dB(C) for impact noise.