Noise above a particular level can cause hearing problems to people exposed to it and even deafness in severe cases. Numerous people working for different organizations or companies may be affected to this hazard and they are not aware of it only to find later that they are diagnosed with hearing conditions. The state provides acts which aim at protecting people from such conditions apart from this; different workplaces nowadays decide to conduct a noise assessment to determine how worse the problem is.
Persons at the workplace can be chosen to conduct this assessment such as a health and safety representative, a supervisor, an employee or even a manager. The first step will be to identify the source of the problem. The reason why persons from the organization are used is because at this level not much technical expertise is required.
A person conducting the assessment should therefore have a worksheet that should contain certain questions which ought to be answered through observation, interviewing workers working at the particular place or using any other methodology. The first questions concerns the source of the sound; it can be from a conveyor, compressor, photocopier, power tools, machines, radio among other sources.
The next thing that will need to be determined is the persons most affected by the hazard. This should be indicated in the worksheet and also a map of the work area that will be provided for the process. After this is established next will be measuring the level of loudness of the sound. A discordance meter is used in this process. If it shows that the level is below 75 db, this is an acceptable level. However, any level above this causes harm to workers.
There has to be away the workers are dealing with any level above 75 decibels. Therefore the assessor should inquire how the sound level is controlled. In most places, employees are usually given hearing protection unit controls. But in many cases this is just an interim measure because in the long term, the workers are always affected because the discordance has not been minimized fully.
Since the sound effects cannot be minimized, assessment continues. Correct measurements ought to be taken to correctly establish exposure levels to particular employees. At this level, the equipment used to collect the data is advanced than the latter example the noise dosimeter. Before the person collects data, he or she ought to be properly trained on the use of the instrument and its features to collect and interpret data properly.
When the measures implemented during the second stage still do not work, an organization will need to get specialized help. This would mean that they contact an external discordance consultant who can assess the risk better and propose measures to be implemented to curb the problem. Such a consultant will need to work with a small team of persons the organization. His measures of data collection are complex to yield better results.
Once the professional has finished carrying out the noise assessment, he comes up with a report. This report contains all information people at the work area ought to know concerning the hazard; its effects are proposed measures to rectify the problem. It will be up to the organization to implement the report in order to protect its workers.
Persons at the workplace can be chosen to conduct this assessment such as a health and safety representative, a supervisor, an employee or even a manager. The first step will be to identify the source of the problem. The reason why persons from the organization are used is because at this level not much technical expertise is required.
A person conducting the assessment should therefore have a worksheet that should contain certain questions which ought to be answered through observation, interviewing workers working at the particular place or using any other methodology. The first questions concerns the source of the sound; it can be from a conveyor, compressor, photocopier, power tools, machines, radio among other sources.
The next thing that will need to be determined is the persons most affected by the hazard. This should be indicated in the worksheet and also a map of the work area that will be provided for the process. After this is established next will be measuring the level of loudness of the sound. A discordance meter is used in this process. If it shows that the level is below 75 db, this is an acceptable level. However, any level above this causes harm to workers.
There has to be away the workers are dealing with any level above 75 decibels. Therefore the assessor should inquire how the sound level is controlled. In most places, employees are usually given hearing protection unit controls. But in many cases this is just an interim measure because in the long term, the workers are always affected because the discordance has not been minimized fully.
Since the sound effects cannot be minimized, assessment continues. Correct measurements ought to be taken to correctly establish exposure levels to particular employees. At this level, the equipment used to collect the data is advanced than the latter example the noise dosimeter. Before the person collects data, he or she ought to be properly trained on the use of the instrument and its features to collect and interpret data properly.
When the measures implemented during the second stage still do not work, an organization will need to get specialized help. This would mean that they contact an external discordance consultant who can assess the risk better and propose measures to be implemented to curb the problem. Such a consultant will need to work with a small team of persons the organization. His measures of data collection are complex to yield better results.
Once the professional has finished carrying out the noise assessment, he comes up with a report. This report contains all information people at the work area ought to know concerning the hazard; its effects are proposed measures to rectify the problem. It will be up to the organization to implement the report in order to protect its workers.
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