Noise exposures of sugar cane mill workers in Guatemala

Figures & data

Figure 1. Diagram of sugar refining process annotated with job numbers referenced in results section. Adapted from Pantaleon Diagram of the Industrial Process at https://www.pantaleon.com/procesos/industrial-process/.

Table 1. Summary of seasonal noise exposure per job description.

Job #	Job description	Samples (n)	Daily noise exposure (8 h) LAeq8 (dB SPL)	Annual noise exposure (2000 hours) LAeq8 (dB SPL)
1	Evaporator	2	108.1	107.9
2	Bottom juice extraction	3	98.8	98.6
3	Top juice extraction	3	98.5	98.3
4	Rock watch	3	94.8	94.6
5	Centrifuge	5	94.5	94.4
6	Welding	4	92.9	92.0
7	Exhaust turbine maintenance	3	92.6	92.4
8	Caldera maintenance	1	91.2	91.0
9	Small packaging	2	91.0	90.8
10	Jumbo packaging	1	90.9	90.7
11	Mechanic	5	90.9	90.8
12	Above packaging	1	90.8	90.6
13	Forklift operator (packaging)	1	90.7	90.5
14	Caldera operator	4	90.3	90.1
15	Clarification	2	89.8	89.6
16	Crystallization inspector	2	88.3	88.1
17	Seeder	2	88.2	88.0
18	Crane operator	2	85.8	85.6
19	Condensing generator maintenance	3	85.6	85.4
20	Heavy equipment operator	1	83.6	83.4
21	Computer operator	1	83.0	82.8

Figure 2. Mean daily noise dose reported by job category. Dose is the amount of actual noise exposure relative to the amount of allowable exposure, and for which 100% and above represents exposures that are hazardous. Right y-axis provides an extended scale for the Juice Extractor and Evaporator job classifications.