Health impacts of construction noise on workers: A quantitative assessment model based on exposure measurement

Abstract

10To provide industry practitioners with a better understanding of the health 11 impacts of occupational noise generated during construction activities, this paper 12 applies measurement schemes to collect noise exposure samples of workers employed 13 in 10 different trades and develops a health damage assessment model to quantify 14 noise exposure level into hearing impairments suffered by field workers in units of 15 "USD". On-site measurements were conducted at two representative ongoing building 16 projects in Beijing during 2013, and 270 valid noise exposure samples covering 10 17 trades were acquired. With these data, the occupational noise exposure indicator L EX, 18 8h was calculated and compared with the threshold limit of 85 dBA stipulated by 19 China's authority. Then, a comparative analysis of noise exposure levels was 20 conducted between two projects and among trades. Furthermore, a health damage 21 assessment model was established to evaluate the real health impacts of construction 22 noise in one of the sampling projects. The results demonstrate that workers in the 23 construction industry suffer severe occupational health damage as a result of 24 construction noise in China. Specifically, 94% of the total health damage occurred 25 during the superstructure construction stage. Roofbolter operators, air duct workers, 26 formwork fixers and concreters suffered from substantial harm in terms of per capita 27 daily damage values. The occupational noise exposure measurement and health 28 damage assessment based on practical project samples indicate that the proposed 29 sampling schemes perform well and that the established health assessment model can 30 effectively quantify health damage suffered by workers due to construction noise, 31 thereby demonstrating its potential as a tool for establishing health subsidy standards 32 for various trades.33 34

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