Noise assessment of shipyard workers

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2008
Can, Özgün
Noise is one of the most important health risks in workplaces worldwide and NIOSH identified noise as one of the 10 important occupational problems. In OSHA's hearing conservation amendment it is stated that in U.S., more than 5 million workers are exposed to potentially hazardous levels of noise in manufacturing and utilities. In 1981 OSHA estimated that, at least one million workers in industry had undergone occupational hearing loss. Ship building has been one of the most promising and rapidly growing industries in Turkey in the recent years. It comprises many production techniques and activities, requires qualified personnel and compliance with several class institutions making the job interesting for the enthusiastic engineers and workers. However shipyard workers are subject to high levels of noise besides other health risks. The aim of this study is to figure out the effect of noise on shipyard workers. For this purpose 2 factories, namely Factory 1 and Factory 2 in a shipyard were chosen and two methods were adopted. The first method was the subjective evaluation of the workers through questionnaires distributed to them, whereas the second method involved the noise level measurement during their work hours. At all the points in Factory 1 where noise level measurements have been done, higher A-weighted values of noise than the limits stated in the legal regulations were found. In Factory 2, noise levels were all below the action value of 85 dBA .Dose measurements of the workers displayed the extremely variable acoustical conditions that the workers encountered. According to the “Noise Regulation” of Ministry of Labour and Social Security and “The European Noise Directive”, the employer seems to be obliged to measure periodically and to assess the level of noise exposure of workers in Factory 1 and take immediately the necessary precautions. Ear plug performance and speech interference conditions were also examined.

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Citation Formats
Ö. Can, “Noise assessment of shipyard workers,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2008.