Home HomeFerdinand Dezelak, Institute of Occupational Safety of the Republic of Slovenia (Slovenia)
For the last two years Slovenia has been intensively working on new noise legislation. Two acts on community noise have already been introduced and a new occupational noise legislation is now in preparation, in which the author is taking an active part. The prefered noise descriptors in both legislations are the rating levels. In this way both the impulsive and spectral characteristics of noise are taken into account. Noise limits are set for different regions, depending on the activities to be protected, the time of day when the noise occurs and the type of noise source. In the field of occupational noise the old legislation of 1971 is still used. The new proposed noise occupational legislation is mainly based on EEC 86/188 directives. However, some additional limitations are introduced, which are presented in this article in more details.
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Claude Michel, Caisse Regionale d'Assurance Maladie (France)
Michel Delfosse, Caisse Regionale d'Assurance Maladie (France)
Designers of industrial buildings do not always know which activity they are dedicated to. Very often, they know neither the machine types nor their acoustic features. This misreading can lead to work situations where employees are exposed to high noise levels (over 85 dBa) due to amplification effect of the building. Noise abatements can be obtained by acoustic corrections which are then more difficult to implement and can be expensive. Even when the above-mentioned parameters are known, they are not often used by designers for noise level assessment but rather for indoor circulation facility and fire damage prevention. Noise level in an industrial room depends on a large number of parameters: - The room geometry (flat room, elongated, L-shaped ...) - The wall absorption properties (absorbent, reverberant) - The fittings (machines, storage, furniture ...) - The sources of noise (machines, fans, vehicles...) It is interesting to be able to predict noise levels in a given industrial room in order to adapt the acoustic treatment in conjunction with a better fitting distribution. A numerical simulation software "RAYSCAD+" designed by National Insitute for Research and Safety in occupational health has been developped in order to give a computer-based tool to people in charge of prevention of occupational risks. This paper is intended to presents some results of numerical simulations from actual situations in different industrial activities and to point out the advantages of such a method to reduce exposures to noise and hearing damage.
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Danuta Augustynska, Central Institut for Labour Protection (Poland)
Dariusz Pleban, Central Institute for Labour Protection (Poland)
Dariusz Puto, Central Institute for Labour Protection (Poland)
This paper presents the process of risk assessment resulting from exposure to noise. The process involves: (a) identification of noise hazards (noise exposure), (b) risk estimation by determining the likelihood of the occurrence of negative consequences of noise exposure (auditory and non-auditory effects of noise) and the degree of their severity, (c) risk reduction. Admissible values of noise determine the highest acceptable risk level.
sv970322.pdf (Scanned) TOPDavid Eager, University of Technology, Sydney (Australia)
This paper reviews some of the difficulties associated with determining industrial hearing loss. The recently introduced legislation in the State of NSW, Australia now makes it illegal for employers to expose their employees to a noise levels that exceeds an 8-hour noise level equivalent of 85 dB(A) or a peak noise level more than 140 dB(lin). How will the Courts now handle employees that were exposed prior to this Legislation? When should employers have taken reasonable precautions to protect their employees from excessive exposure? How and to what extent should these precautions have been taken? Was there a phasing in period and if so what was it? This paper discusses these and other questions associated with the determination of industrial hearing loss.
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