Assessment And Evaluation Of Noise Pollution And Levels Of Safety Measures In A Road Construction Project: The Case Of Jimma Town Road Construction Project, Jimma, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Road construction necessitates the use of heavy machineries and equipment leading to construction workers to be exposed to high noise levels. Noise can also create stress and can be a safety hazard at workplaces, interfering with communication, acting as a distraction and making warnings harder to hear. When a problem has been identified but cannot be removed immediately, the extent and magnitude of the noise should be determined through a noise assessment by detailing the levels present, the items causing the most noise and the people affected by the noise in order to work-out noise control. However, there is no systemized recording and reporting of effect of noise resulted health problem in developing countries including Ethiopia. In this study attempts has been made to asses and evaluate the noise pollution levels and safety measures in place in road construction project of Jimma town. A study of noise characteristics in Jimma Road construction project machineries has been carried out from May 2016 to October 2016. The study involves physical measurement of the noise levels using digital sound level meter and a social survey was conducted using questionnaire. Fourteen machineries and 187 construction workers who have exposure to the machineries were assessed. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the assessment and evaluate of health risk and safety measures among Jimma road construction workers. Field measurement was done on the noise levels generated by road construction machineries at 1m, 3m and 5m distance. From the existing system of operation noise level at average of 1m is about 2.6% to 20.8% higher than the standards prescribed by the OSHA which is 90 dB(A) and the noise level decrease as the distance increase from the source of the noise. Regarding the awareness of the respondent toward importance of personal protective equipment 98% of them are aware of its importance the rest 2% are not aware of PPE. From the respondents 90% of them are having exposure to excessive noise and 84.6% experience headache resulted from high noise level. All the average measured values at 1 meter are above the standard of OSHA which is 90 dB(A). These exposed workers suggested to have periodic audiometric testing in order to identify deterioration in their hearing ability as early as possible and the importance of noise control regulation, awareness creation and safety measures are recommended by the researcher (hearing protection).