Noise in the workplace

Workers who spend their days near noisy machinery can face serious health issues if their employers don’t take measures to prevent injury. Even for occasional visitors to environments with dangerous sound emissions, effective protection and prevention is essential to safeguard their health. 

Dangers in the Workplace

Ensuring workplace health and safety begins with understanding the dangers. Establishing the noise emission of machines and equipment allows you to calculate the protection required and the maximum length of time before a person becomes overexposed.

Measuring the emissions of equipment is one aspect, while the room acoustics of workplaces –
how sound propagates and reverberates out from the equipment – is an important factor in the total exposure in different locations - and essential to limiting the noise exposure.

Noise Exposure and Noise Induced Hearing Loss

Noise conditions typically change throughout the working day. Workers move into areas of varying sound levels and may only intermittently use noisy equipment. Because of these variations in the workplace, determining safe noise levels and appropriate protection for personnel can present difficulties. Conducting measurement and understaning the total exposure through calculation is critical to preventing hearing damage.

Hearing protection programmes have been implemented in most countries and are governed by national and international standards. Any such programme involves an assessment of noise exposure using hand-held sound level meters or personal noise dosimeters.

Assessment of Noise Exposure

For closely tracking the noise exposure of multiple individuals, Noise Dosimeter Type 4448 is a shoulder-mounted, cable-free noise dosimeter that accompanies workers throughout their workday, measuring and registering all noise exposure data.

Two-button operation, informative LCD display and automatic calibration make it easy to master in just a few minutes. The rechargeable battery and memory provide capacity for several workdays’ worth of measurement. Kits, containing up to ten dosimeters, are available and come in a practical carrying case with enough room for all the included and optional accessories.

Another option for assessing noise exposure in the work environment is B&K 2245 Sound Level meter with Work Noise Partner. This is focused tool for performing work noise surveys, focusing on risk mitigation of hearing loss and ensuring compliance with regulations and standards. Work Noise Partner provides you with the insight to properly mitigate any issues, including assessing the need for and selection of hearing protection.