26/8/22, 11:47 Indoor noise mapping in industry - OSH

Guidelines for indoor noise mapping in industry

Introduction noise map
Noise mapping in industry can be useful to assess the risks of harmful noise, or to monitor noise in machine
News rooms.
This tool is frequently used in large plants with few workers, for example in chemical and petroleum industry.

No international standard exists for mapping of noise for this purpose (Norway has NS-4814 for this purpose).
Based on
Machinery directive

our experience we have set up some guidelines to make a noise map based on measurements.
These guidelines can also
Standards

be used to assess noise levels in machines rooms.
· Occupational Health If an enclosed space of any kind is regularly occupied by workers, or has identifiable workplaces, the noise must (also) be

determined with EN-ISO 9612.

Outdoor equipment

Offshore and shipping

The measurement is made during a representative situation, and if more situations are possible, the most common one.
Vibration at work The equivalent sound level is measured. The measurement time at each position is at least 10 seconds,
and at least 1

minute for each enclosed space, and is sufficiently long to give
a stable reading of the equivalent level within 0,1 dB/ 5 s.
LinkedIn articles The microphone height is 1,6 +/- 0,1 m above tread height.

Measurement positions:
Contact may be restricted to accessible areas

Dutch site have a minimum distance from any noise source of 1 m

have a minimum distance from reflective surfaces of 1 m
phone: +31 736 149 615
a minimum of three measurement positions is used in any enclosed space, unless the preceding rules make this
email
impossible
minimum density of measurements is 1 position for 100 m2 (accessible surface)
maximum level difference between each adjacent measurement position is

density of measurement points must be
6 dB (survey grade), or 3 dB (engineering grade).
When this is exceeded, the
increased until this requirement is met.
The density of measurement points may vary over the space.
if equal level lines are drawn these should have a minimum distance of 6 dB (survey grade), or 3 dB (engineering
grade)
a map states levels in a traceable way (e.g. measurement number)
levels on a map are rounded to the nearest whole decibel

The report states:

all relevant process parameters as far as they have influence on the noise level
a list with all measurement results, including date and exact time of each individual measurement
used measurement equipment with last date of calibration
if possible and relevant an estimation on the daily noise exposure of the workers who regularly visit the areas
examined.

It is important that a map is easy to read, but results have to be accounted for:
what was the exact measurement value
and when was this measured. Therefor the results on the map must be linked to a table with
all details of the
measurements and the relevant details of the process.

Uncertainty of the measurements must carefully be considered, measurements are at least repeated ones using an
interval between
these two measurements of several hours.

Colleagues and other experts are encouraged to comment!

Back to occupational Health

Keywords: measurement based indoor noise mapping for occupational health assessment

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