NOISE RISK ASSESSMENT

The work-related risks assessment is a meticulous process that must take into account all the risks to health and safety in a company. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the risk deriving from ex­posure to noise for the workers of a company X chosen as a model for our purpose. Exposure to high intensity noise and for long peri­ods of time may cause a permanent increase in the hearing threshold, called bilatera! perceptual hear­ing loss caused by changes in the neuro-sensory structures of the inner ear. The evaluation process involved the preliminary analysis of the activities carried out by the em­ployees, the identification of noise sources and homogeneous groups of potentially exposed workers, the measurement of noise emission levels and, following the acquisition of exposure to such sources, the calculation of persona! expo­sure levels. In accordance with the provisions of Legislative Decree 81/08, exposure levels have been calculat­ed on a daily basis for those homogeneous groups that perform fairly routine activities, as in the case of personnel in the bodywork departments (knock­ers/fitters, painters), mechanical workshop depart­ment (mechanical and electromechanical) garage department (handling of vehicles, vehicle washing workers). The homogeneous group of beater/assembler, me­chanical/electromechanical groups has an expo­sure that exceeds the upper values of action [85 dB (A)] and exceeds the exposure limit value of 87 dB (A). The employer has the obligation to subject workers to health surveillance, to pian a program of corrective measures and to require workers to wear Hearing PPE. Considering the attenuation of the PPE in question the Lex, 8h falls below 87 dB (A).