Heavy Construction Equipment Noise Study Using Dosimetry and Time-Motion Studies

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kovalchik, Peter G. ; Spencer E
• Description:
  Noise induced hearing loss continues to afflict workers in many occupational settings despite longstanding recognition of the problems and well-known methods of prevention and regulations. The focus of this research was to determine the noise exposures of heavy construction equipment operators while documenting the workers' tasks, (i.e. hauling, moving, and/or pushing construction material).Time-motion studies were performed at the construction sites and were used to correlate the noise dosage with the work performed by the equipment operators. The cumulative dose for each operator was then plotted with references to work tasks. This was done to identify the tasks that caused the greatest noise exposure. Three construction sites were studied for this research. The types of construction equipment studied included asphalt pavers, backhoes, bulldozers, compaction equipment, excavators, haul trucks, telehandlers, and wheeled loaders. The results indicate that the majority of operators were overexposed to hazardous noise. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Hearing Loss Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Noise Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Construction Construction-equipment Construction-industry Construction-workers Equipment-operators Hearing-loss Noise-exposure Noise-induced-hearing-loss Noise-levels Occupational-health
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0736-2501
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRL - Pittsburgh Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  408-416
• Volume:
  55
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032460
• Citation:
  Noise Control Eng J 2007 Jul-Aug; 55(4):408-416
• Contact Point Address:
  NIOSH, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 18070, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
• Email:
  ESpencer@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Noise Control Engineering Journal
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:220a9df67a978fb6d5213199b33da4d86b9ee05da9234d7e93b3a240dbbb40f575e1b25341c9f6104ebaf37c11fd719c725c023d06a7e84b022a8a84a28d293b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/226802/cdc_226802_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.66 MB ]