Noise exposure of workers of the construction sector

Noise is one of the most highly found physical contaminants in the construction sector. The most negative effects caused by noise exposure are related to the hearing system and may produce professional deafness or even permanent deafness. As these effects have a very important influence on people's health and well-being, it is necessary to assess the noise exposure and to develop mechanisms for studying and proposing preventive solutions. This work has studied the noise levels which the workers of the construction sector are exposed to. A number of representative measurements have been carried out using a sound level meter and a dosimeter to collect data from workers devoted to different tasks in the construction process. Analysis of the most important levels and indexes have been done with those data, and afterwards, they have been compared with the limits imposed by the different current regulations. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.