by Brianna Crandall — October 20, 2014—The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released a database of noise measurement results collected by agency investigators during health hazard evaluation (HHE) surveys conducted from 1996—2012. Helpful for researchers and other interested stakeholders who would like to benchmark the noise levels in their own facilities, the new database includes 761 personal noise exposure measurements and 536 area noise measurements from 73 different HHE reports.
The database includes information on the type of dosimeter or sound level meter used; whether a hearing conservation program was in place; whether a hearing protection was used; whether octave band data was collected; noise-generating activities; type (full-shift, partial-shift, or task-based) and duration of noise measurement; type of noise (continuous, impulsive, or intermittent); exposure to ototoxic chemicals; and more.
HHEs are requested by employees or their representatives, or employers, to help learn whether health hazards are present at their workplace. The scope of HHEs varies based on the requestors’ concerns and the NIOSH project officers’ professional judgment. Although many HHEs include evaluation of exposures other than noise, only noise measurement results are included in this database, notes NIOSH.
The NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation Program Noise Measurement Database is an ongoing project and will be updated at least yearly to add the most recent HHE noise measurement data, says NIOSH.
