INDUCED NOISE DUE TO ACTIVITIES AT CONSTRUCTION SITE AND ITS IMPACT ON CONSTRUCTION WORKERS HEALTH
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11113/mjce.v37.23425Keywords:
Hearing loss, Sound level, PTA test, DALY, Construction Noise, Safety measures, and Construction machinery.Abstract
The construction process would generate a great deal of noise pollution, which is extremely harmful to the workers' health. This research developed a comprehensive evaluation framework for measuring the negative impact on health caused by induced noise due to construction activities. The study was conducted by selecting a group of workers from various sections of a construction site, including concrete mixing operation, reinforcement cutting, brick crushing operation, and formwork, and assessing their hearing capabilities at two intervals over a six-month period. At first, the hearing loss of workers was initially assessed through a Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) test to evaluate their hearing ability. Subsequently, the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) for the workers were calculated to quantify the impact of hearing loss on their overall health. The framework includes the establishment of standardized criteria for assessing noise exposure, the definition of health risks associated with construction work, and the quantification of the resulting health damage. Also, it outlined the improvement of workers' occupational health levels. Through field survey using a Digital Sound Level Meter (Model: SL-4001), it was found that noise generated by heavy machinery exceeds the limit of the standard noise level. Throughout the 4-year construction of the ILST project, the cumulative Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) for all workers is 1.875a, due to the Concrete mixing operation the highest amount of harm (DALY = 1.145a) occurred. An audiometrist performed a PTA test at an interval of 205 days and found a slight change in the capacity of hearing level. This study emphasized awareness of the harm caused to the workers involved by the noise pollution generated for the construction work.
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