The risks arising from physical agents - such as noise pollution - are sometimes underrated or not always treated in a suitable way, especially when workplace well being is considered. In Europe, security is ensured with the Directive 2003/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of February 6th, 2003 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (noise). It supplies the minimum health requirements to assure health-care and protection from loud sounds to those workers who are exposed to risks from noise as a result of their works. Nevertheless, that standard is far away from guaranteeing a complete safeguard because of certain shortcomings below highlighted. In this paper, several working activities – which expect workers to remain in different noisy workplaces for prolonged periods – are analyzed. Such activities may produce serious risks for worker’s health and, in particular, for the organ of hearing and its psychophysics functions. Therefore, parameters and other acoustics quantities - which allow better understanding the physical phenomenon - appointed within the Directive will be analyzed in detail using data recorded with dosimeters and real time analyzers. Work activities carried out in environments characterized by different acoustics intensity are considered in this analysis. Depending on exposure time, each of these noisy environments can lead from annoyance phenomena to permanent psychosomatic damage. In particular the following activities are subject to investigation: office activities, school (with particular reference to exposition in primary school classes), work activities of public transportation drivers, university and research center’s laboratories (e.g. mechanics labs, engine testing room, material stress testing labs, etc.) and industrial sector’s activities. Based on the sampled data, acoustics parameters used within the current Directive will be evaluated to highlight that these underestimate the effective noise workers are subjected on and to prove that the used parameters cannot guarantee a full-protection from risk arising from noise as effective as in Directive’s original aims. In practice, in this paper, through several in-situ measurements the acoustic parameters’ intensity will be evaluated according to what stated within the Directive. Then, the same data will be analyzed using an integrative procedure – proposed by the authors – to evaluate the influence of impulsive components, which cannot be determined when currently Standards’ procedures are used. In addition, influence of sound phenomena’s spectral composition and its influence on the interested portion of human cochlea will be achieved.
Evaluation of Effects on Workers’ Health Due to Exposure to Different Intensity SPLs Arising From Various Work Activities. Standardized Procedures and Integrative Methods
SABATO, Adolfo;
2014-01-01
Abstract
The risks arising from physical agents - such as noise pollution - are sometimes underrated or not always treated in a suitable way, especially when workplace well being is considered. In Europe, security is ensured with the Directive 2003/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of February 6th, 2003 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from physical agents (noise). It supplies the minimum health requirements to assure health-care and protection from loud sounds to those workers who are exposed to risks from noise as a result of their works. Nevertheless, that standard is far away from guaranteeing a complete safeguard because of certain shortcomings below highlighted. In this paper, several working activities – which expect workers to remain in different noisy workplaces for prolonged periods – are analyzed. Such activities may produce serious risks for worker’s health and, in particular, for the organ of hearing and its psychophysics functions. Therefore, parameters and other acoustics quantities - which allow better understanding the physical phenomenon - appointed within the Directive will be analyzed in detail using data recorded with dosimeters and real time analyzers. Work activities carried out in environments characterized by different acoustics intensity are considered in this analysis. Depending on exposure time, each of these noisy environments can lead from annoyance phenomena to permanent psychosomatic damage. In particular the following activities are subject to investigation: office activities, school (with particular reference to exposition in primary school classes), work activities of public transportation drivers, university and research center’s laboratories (e.g. mechanics labs, engine testing room, material stress testing labs, etc.) and industrial sector’s activities. Based on the sampled data, acoustics parameters used within the current Directive will be evaluated to highlight that these underestimate the effective noise workers are subjected on and to prove that the used parameters cannot guarantee a full-protection from risk arising from noise as effective as in Directive’s original aims. In practice, in this paper, through several in-situ measurements the acoustic parameters’ intensity will be evaluated according to what stated within the Directive. Then, the same data will be analyzed using an integrative procedure – proposed by the authors – to evaluate the influence of impulsive components, which cannot be determined when currently Standards’ procedures are used. In addition, influence of sound phenomena’s spectral composition and its influence on the interested portion of human cochlea will be achieved.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
