Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 98–0289–2742: RMC Lonestar, San Francisco, California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Tubbs, Randy L.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) responded to a joint request from the Building Material & Construction Teamster's Union Local 216 and the management at RMC LONESTArkansas to investigate noise exposures to the drivers of the company's ready-mix concrete trucks. Of particular concern was noise from a data telemetry system in the cab of the trucks that tracked the driver's location. On October 5-9, 1998, investigators from NIOSH traveled to San Francisco, California, to conduct a noise survey at the company's ready-mix plants. Three days of personal noise dosimetry were obtained along with area noise measurements in the cab of the trucks and the cement plant to characterize the spectral make-up of the noise. The RMC LONESTArkansas hearing conservation program was also reviewed by NIOSH investigators. The analysis of the results determined that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) action level for the implementation of a hearing conservation program was exceeded in most of the sampled truck drivers. The NIOSH recommended exposure limit was surpassed in all personal noise measurements. The specific analysis of the data telemetry system found that the beeps emitted by the device were pure tone in nature, but not of sufficient intensity to damage the drivers' hearing. However, the device did produce many unneeded sounds that could be perceived by the employees as annoying.
• Subjects:
  Ear Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Sense Organs
• Keywords:
  Data Telemetry System Exposure-levels Hearing-protection Hearing Protection Devices Ready-Mixed Concrete, Production And Distribution Sound Stress Truck-drivers Truck Drivers
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA9802892742
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  24 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Blythe, Ellen E. ; Harney, Joshua M. ; Roegner, Kevin C.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20022005
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 98-0289-2742, 1999 Jun ; :1-17
• Editor(s):
  Arthur, Penny
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1999
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  3273 - Ready-mixed concrete - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c20d269ffc7cdd10547c0c4fea894ffb69f3e918f09b186128e9b4d6e1b6e3ded35750d2fd5ad526faf38b2075f02d8088726733717de3fbe3cc55a454180ffe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170891/cdc_170891_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 269.41 KB ]