Noise control in different environments includes a variety of methods, technologies, policies, and regulations, which create different challenges to reducing noise. Some unique noise control challenges include those faced in outdoor environments, factories, industrial spaces, and even corporate offices. Singer Safety Company understands the importance of noise reduction and the challenges of creating the ideal noise control system in any environment.
Universal Noise Regulations
The methods for noise control in different environments vary across industries, but the basic regulations remain the same. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has universal regulations that apply to all US workers. Employers must implement a hearing conservation program if noise exposure is at or above 85 decibels over an eight-hour period. OSHA has additional regulations and recommendations for specific industries, including construction.
Certain industries face unique noise control challenges to maintain compliance. Manufacturing and industrial environments are at a higher risk for noise exposure, and factory noise control is critical. Office spaces are generally thought of as pretty quiet, but they still need to ensure they are within the allowed noise levels. Outdoor work environments pose unique challenges to outdoor noise control.
Industrial and Factory Noise Control
Factories are loud. Industrial spaces such as manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and factories include loud machinery and equipment that can lead to hearing damage. Factory machinery is around 100 decibels, conveyor belts can range around 100-110 dB, and power tools and machinery can reach 130 dB. Luckily, there are many options for factory noise control.
Maintenance
Factory managers can work to eliminate noise at the source by ensuring proper maintenance of machinery and equipment and upgrading to quieter models if possible. Modern machinery tends to operate at a lower sound level than older machines.
Sound Barriers
Enclosing and isolating the source of excessive noise limits noise exposure to employees. Singer Safety’s modular acoustic screens and fiberglass panels are designed for factory noise control. These screens and panels are easy to install and flexible enough to fit the changing needs of any space. Our screens and panels block sounds from traveling across factory floors. Employers don’t just use sound barriers to isolate noise; they can also create a quiet space to give employees a needed break from noise exposure.
Sound Absorption
Some factory noises are harder to enclose and isolate. Ceiling baffles work to absorb sound amplified by open spaces and high ceilings, such as those in factories. Baffles absorb sound waves that bounce around large spaces and off of hard surfaces such as a ceiling or floor. Acoustic foam is another method to absorb sound and one of the most versatile options for noise control in different environments. Almost any surface can be adjusted to absorb sound by installing acoustic foam – walls, ceilings, doors, and even machinery and equipment.
Office Space Noise Control
Office spaces are generally thought to be fairly quiet. While the sounds of typing, printers, ringing phones, and employee conversation are not as loud as a factory, reducing noise levels in an office can lower stress and increase productivity.
Office noise may not be loud enough to require an OSHA hearing conservation program, but noise can lead to distractions, headaches, fatigue, and increased stress. Implementing a noise reduction system in an office space improves employee morale and productivity.
Noise Challenges in an Office Space
The noise-related challenges in an office space generally focus on the office layout and employees’ preferences. The newer trend for open-layout offices created a unique noise control challenge by allowing more sound to travel. Small partitions, rather than fully enclosed walls, can be installed between workstations to absorb some of that noise. Even with an open office, the layout can be utilized for noise control. Breakrooms and meeting rooms, where there may be more noise, can be placed further away from workstations. Employers can use acoustic panels and screens to create quiet zones for employees who need silence to focus. That’s one of the other challenges of noise in an office. Everyone has personal preferences of what background noise helps them focus and what hinders concentration. Some folks need music to focus, while for others, even the sounds of the HVAC system humming in the background are too much.
In addition to creating quiet zones, acoustic foam can be used against walls and ceilings to absorb excess noise. Similarly, soft furniture and surfaces such as upholstered chairs and fabric-covered cubicles help absorb noise.
Creating a Quiet Office Space
Educating employees on the risks of noise and implementing noise-related policies benefits the overall office environment. Encouraging employees who like working with music to use headphones, employees who need silence to use general ear plugs, and encouraging open communication among employees if noise levels are too loud. Maintaining and upgrading machinery such as copiers and printers, and even keyboards with quieter keys, can make for a more peaceful workday.
Outdoor Noise Control
There are a variety of potential sources of excessive noise in outdoor work environments. Construction sites, marine docks and shipyards, airplane hangers, farms and forestry, highway maintenance and road work, and even residential levels of landscaping involve heavy, noisy machinery and equipment. Eighty-five decibels is the key number for what can be considered dangerously loud. Potential harmful noise in outdoor jobs includes:
- Heavy or highway traffic – 85 dB
- Trucks, tractors, and shouted conversation – 90 dB
- heavy machinery and tools including power saws, electric drills, jackhammers, leaf and snow blowers – 100-120 dB
- An airplane taking off – 140 dB
Challenges of Outdoor Noise Control
Unlike a factory or warehouse, outdoor work environments face the incredible challenge of having less control over the environment and, therefore, over the noise levels. The noise sources in outdoor environments are also more mobile, constantly moving and shifting, making it even harder to install noise control in different environments. Personal protective equipment (PPE), proper machine and equipment maintenance, and employee training and education become critical in outdoor spaces. That doesn’t mean noise control systems and methods are impossible to implement.
Sound Barriers
Construction sites and sections of road work don’t have temporary fences and barriers up just to keep out unauthorized personnel. Barriers also help reduce noise traveling off the site to the public or, in the case of roadwork, prevent traffic noise from impacting workers. Temporary walls and barriers range from thin plastic rolls of fencing that won’t do much for noise to temporary walls made from drywall, polycarbonate, plywood, or other materials. Temporary, modular walls, combined with acoustic fiberglass panels or screens, are an ideal combination to limit noise.
Outdoor job sites can focus on proper machinery maintenance, upgrading to newer, quieter machines, and balancing the use o of noise control systems with PPE in order to maintain noise control levels.
Additional Regulations
In addition to OSHA workplace regulations, outdoor jobs, especially those in residential areas such as construction sites and landscaping, need to be aware of local noise ordinances and risks to the general public. Noise ordinances vary by cities and localities but generally include hours when construction noise is acceptable. Sticking to the allowed schedule is critical to avoiding regulatory fines.
Singer Safety Company
Singer Safety Company has been manufacturing industrial safety equipment since 1950. We understand the unique challenges of noise control across all industries. Our sound stopper noise control systems aim to help limit noise exposure and lower health risks for employees.