Noise Effects of Generator Sets at Construction Sites

Abstract

Noise and vibration can be the cause of serious disturbance and inconvenience to anyone exposed to them and in certain circumstances noise and vibration can be a serious hazard to health, causing        permanent damage to hearing system. Noise exposure levels of construction workers are difficult to determine due to the day to-day variation in occupation and shift length of each worker and the itinerant and seasonal nature of the job. Nevertheless, it is clear that the construction worker is exposed to very high sound levels for considerable lengths of time.

Different types and sizes of equipment's, machineries and tools are used by construction industries. Diesel Generator for power is a very important one among the equipment used in the construction industries, used in large numbers and as clusters and also located very near to the work area. The noise level produced by these generators is much higher than the permissible limit. But the construction work group took very little effort to avoid or minimize this noise level to permissible level. Many people even though they may not need electricity for their work got in and exposed in this zone of danger. At this site eight generators have been used by various working groups.

This paper assesses the potential noise impacts associated with power generators used in construction activities of the DCT project site and the effective steps to control this noise. A 12-hour noise survey was conducted to establish background noise levels in the project area.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijosh.v3i2.6145