Noise in the building and public works sector.

Jobs in the building and public works sectors often lead the employees to an important noise exposure, whatever the workstation, indoors or outdoors. Due to noisy machines or engines, or to building processes, noise is a physical hazard very present in these industrial sectors.
Consequences for health are remembered in this paper. Ear may be at risk as soon as the levels are above 80 dB during a workday and cumulated losses are leading to a deafness recognized as a professional disease. Noise also causes fatigue and stress and acts on the nervous, digestive and cardiovascular systems. Disturbing employee’s concentration, noise can decrease the work quality by means of errors and defects. It can even lead to accidents by the masking of useful alarm or danger signals. Noise has been recognized as a hardness factor in the recent French law concerning the pension reform (autumn 2010).
The law requires the risk assessment and, if the risk is proved, to decrease and to remove it. For the noise risk in the building and public works sectors, the employer can use the Labour Code which is the transposition of the European Directive 2003/10/CE concerning the noise exposition for the workers and also the “Machinery” Directive and the French regulation about noisy workplaces.
By changing a building process, by buying noisy machines or tools, by organizing the working area or by giving efficient Hearing Protection Devices to the workers, it is always possible to decrease noise exposure. To inform the employees, to give formation about the risk management, to share experience and knowledge of the employees, to look for examples of successful realizations, are the actions easy to realize by the employer or his representative to manage the decrease of the noise risk. By being helped by specialists: occupational physicians, IPRP, CRAM or CARSAT controllers, company specialists or acousticians, the benefits of the decrease of the noise annoyance in a workshop as in a building yard will be ever very important.