Personal noise exposure assessment of Kuwaiti printing industry workers

Abstract

Recent technological improvements in the printing industry may have altered noise exposures in printeries. Of the eight printery noise assessments published since 2000, none assessed the exposure of workers using computer-to-plate machines and only two used personal noise dosimetry. This method measures noise levels as the worker moves about and permits examination of the impulsiveness of noise levels. In this study, 104 workers wore personal noise dosimeters for one full shift. Computer-to-plate operators experienced noise exposures of 75 dB(A) on average and were rarely exposed to noise levels greater than 85 dB(A). Noise exposure in excess of 85 dB(A) was still common among offset printer operators. In fact, all workers operating web-fed offset machines spent more than half the shift experiencing noise levels greater than 85 dB(A). We found that the 5-min rolling SD of noise levels accurately reflected the impulsivity observed in the noise level profile.

Keywords:

• personal noise dosimetry
• occupational noise exposure recommendations
• printing industry

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all managers of printeries and their workers for their valuable time, effort and contribution to this study, without whose support this study would not have been possible. The research was generously funded by the Government of Kuwait represented by the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research; Kuwait Public Authority for Applied Education and Training.