Noise Control of Power Tools Used in the Construction Industry – NIOSH/Universities Partnership Case Studies

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hayden, Charles S. II
• Description:
  The total cost of the FFS contracts and tool purchases over the three year period was about $31,000. Over 35 engineering student teams were formed and over 150 students participated. The cost of putting together the university teams and providing them with power tools for this study was relatively small. This is especially true when looking at the breadth of work accomplished by these groups. 7 tool types and 20 completely different models of tools were examined in this project. The students work has yielded noise reduction demonstrations from 3-25 dBA. Clearly, identifying the noise sources on a tool or piece of equipment are a crucial step in developing a high impact noise control strategy. While understanding the mechanism of a noise source, it is equally important to identify sources of inefficiency in the product and identify the inefficiencies that are related to the identified noise source. The most significant noise source may also have a significant impact on the tools performance. Once a noise source is identified and then correlated as a source of poor performance, a noise control solution can be developed to focus on improving operational performance while also reducing noise emissions. This approach is the most likely way to get noise control solutions implemented by powered hand tool manufacturers. While these manufacturers and designers may not have ready access to the equipment, facilities, and expertise to acoustically evaluate and optimize their tools, NIOSH can act as a catalyst to make these resources available to industry through the university partnerships. An industry/university consortium could be formed to bring about continuous improvement in reducing construction site noise levels through quieter design of tools and machinery. This will ensure the work this project initiates, necessarily continues long after this project is complete. As information on quieter equipment is made available, it can be used to make purchasing decisions. This quieter equipment will have cost and operational benefits beyond reduced noise emissions, making it further likely the product will be manufactured and purchased by customers. The purchase of quieter powered hand tools and machinery will provide a quieter construction site. Hence, a construction site less likely to cause NIHL among workers exposed to that environment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Construction Construction-equipment Construction-workers Impact-noise Noise-analysis Noise-control Noise-exposure Noise-frequencies Noise-levels Noise-measurement Noise-pollution Noise-propagation Noise-sources Noise-waves Power-tools Sound-propagation Work-areas Work-environment Workplace-studies

  More +
• Publisher:
  Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the USA
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  313-317
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20033777
• Citation:
  NOISE-CON 2004: Proceedings of the National Conference on Noise Control Engineering, Baltimore, Maryland, July 12-14, 2004. Burroughs C, Maling Jr G, eds., Ames, IA: Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the USA, 2004 Jul; :313-317
• Contact Point Address:
  Structural Dynamics Research Laboratories, Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering Department, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0072, U.S.A.
• Editor(s):
  Burroughs C; Maling G Jr.
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NOISE-CON 2004: Proceedings of the National Conference on Noise Control Engineering, Baltimore, Maryland, July 12-14, 2004
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:389d7ef0aeae4480b60157ad556284669f8115e1c9353b3ed9476d7de5b58c05f67772e5b92c58c7979eb616439618e3fe7a2e6ebfa3e341451f292c02e42742
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/189224/cdc_189224_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 668.81 KB ]