Occupational Noise Exposure Among Road Construction Workers

Authors

  • K. M. Said Master Student, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • Z. Haron Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • A. Saim A. Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • M. Z. Abidin Master Student, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • K. Yahya Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
  • L. M. Han Phd Student, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v70.3571

Keywords:

Noise exposure, Factory and Machinery Noise Regulation 1989, road construction worker, hearing loss, hearing protector

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate noise exposure and prevalence of hearing loss among typical road construction workers. Personal noise dosimeter was used to obtain the noise exposure profile of heavy equipment operators that are working on various stages; road work, trade work and pavement work. Symptoms of hearing loss among workers were observed through interview session. It was a degradation in human hearing ability. Workers with symptoms of hearing loss may have problem in understanding speech or conversation. There are 73 construction workers that were evaluated, 60 of them are machine’s operators, 7 are site supervisors and 6 are premix workers. The results show that in road works stage there are 6.9% workers exposed to action level ≥85 dBA and 1.4% workers exposed to noise ≥90 dBA. 4.1% workers from trade work and 13.7% workers from pavement work were exposed to noise ≥85 dBA. There are 5.48% of workers from pavement work exposed to hazard level of noise with only 2.74% of worker used Hearing Protection Devices (HPD). There is a prevalence of symptoms of hearing loss among workers with 45% of workers from road works, 32% from trade works and 23% from pavement stage. These exposed workers suggested to have an audiometric testing program annually in order to identify deterioration in their hearing ability as early as possible.

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Published

2014-10-15

How to Cite

Occupational Noise Exposure Among Road Construction Workers. (2014). Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering), 70(7). https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v70.3571