Facilities Management: Risks and Prevention of Excessive Noise Exposure in Construction Industry

The report provides an analysis and evaluation of the different kinds of risks that are related the excessive level of noise experienced within the construction industry, which also resulted in numerous heath related issues and psychological problems as well. The various methods of managing these risks are to identify and assess, understanding the severity, prevent and finally monitor and review to ensure that the workers are not subjected to risk exposure again in the future.

Running head: FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
Facilities Management
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Executive summary
The report provides an analysis and evaluation of the different kinds of risks that are
related the excessive level of noise experienced within the construction industry, which also
resulted in numerous heath related issues and psychological problems as well. The various
methods of managing these risks are to identify and assess, understanding the severity,
prevent and finally monitor and review to ensure that the workers are not subjected to risk
exposure again in the future. To ensure management of these risks and associated issues, the
construction sites shall focus on the noise conservation program and also implement various
preventive measures for protecting the workers and abide by the Workplace Health and safety
Act. This will not only promote better health and wellbeing at the workplace, but can also
result in better management of facilities along with the reduction of excessive noise level all
across the construction sectors too.

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Table of Content
s
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Findings.................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Research question........................................................................................................................3
1.2 Risk assessment...........................................................................................................................3
1.3 Risk controlling...........................................................................................................................4
1.4 Assessment of issues or problems................................................................................................6
Development of hearing conservation program.....................................................................................9
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................10
Recommendations...............................................................................................................................10
Reference list.......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the importance of managing the workplace health and
safety related risks within the construction industry. The report will allow for understanding
the risks of high level of noise that may affect the health and wellbeing of workers within the
construction sector. The management of risks is related to the Facilities management within
the construction sector, which requires close monitoring along with the assessment of the
risks related to the excessive level of noise within the concerned sector (Alexander, 2013).
The report will also examine the various issues and problems that can reduce the efficiency of
Facilities management, furthermore, make sure to implement a hearing conservation program
for the improvement of health and wellbeing of the workers too.
Findings
1.1 Research question
How does the Facilities management get affected negatively because of the high level of
noise experienced by workers within the construction industry?
1.2 Risk assessment
Within the construction industry, the use of various tools and equipments has
produced excessive level of noise and exposure to these kinds of risks are often associated
with the negative impact on health and wellbeing of the workers (Charlesraj, 2014). To make
sure that the assessment of risks is done properly and the risks are mitigated, it is important to
follow certain steps:
To conduct the risk assessment, it is important to identify the people who are at risks
first and then understand how it can degrade their health. The workers at the construction site
are at higher risks when they work with the concrete breakers, compactors, grinders, hammer
drills, hammer, etc (Berg-Sonne et al., 2014). The assessment of risks should be further

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supported by conducting health surveillance, which could allow for identifying those
individuals, furthermore, consider those who are known to have some existing problems and
issues related to hearing.
The next steps of risk assessment enables estimation of likely exposure to such kinds
of risks related to the tasks performed by them and then check for doing something about the
noise experienced by the workers. It is important for raising voices while talking with other
workers during excessive noise and at the same time, identify the effects in case the use noisy
powered tools and techniques for more than an hour.
Lastly, during the assessment of risks, it is important to consider the place where the
construction work has been taking place or progressing. The places that are enclosed may
produce increased noise due to the reflection of noise, thereby, increased the exposure level
of noise too largely.
1.3 Risk controlling
The organisation would be benefited as the health and safety standards would be
maintained while the workers within the construction industry would also feel that they are
much more secured and safe while working, which should further keep them motivated,
encouraged and raise their morale to perform to their potential (Wang et al., 2013). The Topic

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is of importance because it also includes the concepts related to the development of a hearing
conservation program, which is essential for reducing the excessive level of noise
experienced by the workers at the construction site (Fraser, 2014).
Controlling the risks require proper assessment of the risks that has been done
previously. The hierarchy of controls are managed to allow for preventing any kinds of
hazards or risk associated with it. The major approaches to controlling of risks within the
construction industry include elimination, which enables preventing the risks to occur,
substitution, which could enable usage of equipments and machineries that produce lesser
noise while the isolation approach to controlling of risks could spate the process or hazards
from the employees Meng (2013). This could be done with the help of relocation, creating
barriers and ensure through remote handling of equipments.
The engineering controls include use of guards, ventilation and creating an entirely
redesigned workstation to manage administrative controls in such a manner that the workers
are trained and are informed about the policies and procedures to reduce the level of exposure
to excess noise. Lastly, the use of protective clothing and equipments has benefited the
workers too, which are later monitored and reviewed to ensure that the risk management
systems comply with the legal and corporate laws, rules, regulations and requirements too.

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1.4 Assessment of issues or problems
As stated by Lingard (2013), based on the HSE reports, it was found that there had
been increased level of hazardous noise, which could be considered as a major cause of poor
health and wellbeing among the workers at the construction sites. The major problem has
been experienced because of the high noise within the construction site and also the workers
were not much conscious about using the proper hearing protective hear, which further
alleviated the issues and its impacts (Lingard, 2013). There were also issues and problems
related to the issuing of the inappropriate hearing protectors, due to which, most of the
workers within the construction site were reluctant and not willing to wear those, thereby,
resulted in increased level of hazards. These also include not being able to hear the call for
warning and also unable to fit or adjust properly with the various PPEs. From various
statistical reports, it was found that more than 1500 employees within the concerned industry
had been suffering from work related deafness (Yoon et al., 2013). Stergiou-Kita et al. (2015)
also stated that the high level of noise has also been a major contributing factor of long term
hearing problems and it can cause distractions, thereby, increase the chances of accidents
resulting in severe and fatal injury too. The employers must be aware of providing the
document consisting of the comprehensive noise risk assessment and then issue a proper PPE
to keep everyone safe while working at the construction site (Stergiou-Kita et al., 2015). Due
to the management of various activities at the construction site and with the use of various
equipment and machineries for perfuming the job roles, the level of noise may vary as well.
Often, the workers who work indoors at the construction site may also be subjected to the
noise caused around them, which should further affect their health and wellbeing too. With
the excessive noise, the workers might get distracted as well, which could further result in
making them unable to listen to the work related matters properly, furthermore, increase the

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complexities and create more risks of suffering from deafness related symptoms (Sousa,
Almeida& Dias, 2014).
It has also been found that the various problems or issues not only contribute to the
poor management of health and wellbeing, but also has resulted in creating a negative impact
on the environment and organisational stability. The people staying nearby the construction
site could also become irritated with the heavy noise at the site and even create discomfort for
the individuals with cardio logical and hearing problems (Ekpenyong&Inyang, 2014). Other
than that, when a person working at the construction site gets affected with the severity of
noise and even sometimes injury due to distraction by the noise, then the workforce
performance would deteriorate, furthermore, lead to poor organisational capability and not
being able to accomplish the tasks within the allocated time frame. All these noise related
hazards could result in severe consequences and at the same time, affect the health and
wellbeing of individuals negatively too (Wang, Dai&Ning, 2015). The noise generated during
construction at the site seemed to be difficult to control and this it becomes difficult for using
the right hearing protectors, because of the changes constantly experienced in different
locations. These kinds of noises are considered as hazardous because of the noisy
environment created, which further result in difficulty and complexities to remediate as well
(Mahmoudi et al., 2014).

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Figure: Noise exposure level (Wang, Dai&Ning, 2015)
It has been found that the various workers experience different level of noise and the
range of noise is between 80 to 90 decibels, which is quite high. This exposure to high level
of noise has been caused due to the various activities at the construction site such as welding,
grinding, roto hammer usage and also while chipping concrete. The major causes of such
kind of noise include the utilisation of various equipment and machineries such as electrical
saws, jackhammers, dump trucks, cement mixers, wielding machines, tamping equipment and
also while managing drilling activities and using sledgehammers. In most of the cases, the
noise level is beyond the level of 90 dBA and when the workers at the construction site do
not wear any kinds of hearing protection gear, they might be unable to hear any warning

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signals or listen to any messages and information communicated by another worker during
the due course (Hammer et al., 2015). Due to lack of skills and proper knowledge also, the
workers might be unable to gain access to the effective HPDs or even might not be aware of
the need for wearing such hearing protection gear.
The severe consequences that might appear include the hearing loss, disturbance of
sleep, fatigue, stress and aggression along with reduced level of immune response and heart
related diseases too. It has also affected the physiological health and wellbeing by increasing
blood pressure of individuals and the excessive noise has even resulted in increased heart rate
and palpitation along with stress, headaches, hypertension and even decrease in the white
blood cells (Hong et al., 2013).
Development of hearing conservation program
The hearing conservation program could be managed for the purpose of preventing
any kinds of hearing loss that has resulted from exposure to high level of noise within the
construction industry. Based on the occupational exposure to noise, a conservation program
needs to be introduced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA for
making sure that the health and safety within the workplace is managed properly. The
employers must be cautious about implementing the noise conservation program wisely and
make sure to deliver the right training and development programs to the workers to make sure
that they remain safe and sound without any negative impact on their health (Basner et al.,
2014). The construction site authorities must also assess the requirements for managing the
program with the help of considering the engineering controls, monitoring the exposure of
employees to hazardous noise and by testing whether they have been exposed to noise over
85 decibels or not. The hearing conservation program by OSHA has also helped in designing
the approaches required to protect the workers from any kinds of issues and also take care of
them so that they do not experience noise exposures from any sort of hearing impairment.

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The employers should also follow the OSHA policies and laws for carefully checking the
instruments and machineries used for making accurate measurements all throughout (Hong et
al., 2013). This would not only allow for following the Work Health and safety act, but could
even facilitate the training and developmental sessions provided to the workers fir making
them aware of preventing exposure to high level of noise within the construction site.
Conclusion
The report was presented to discuss about the various risks associated with the
excessive level of noise to workers within the construction industry and also provided
relevant information about the development of a hearing conservation program. From the
report, it could be understood that the noise had been a major issue that raised the potential
risks associated with the health and wellbeing of individuals such as stress, hearing issues,
heart related diseases and also hypertension. The workers within the construction site
exposed to high level noise, also experienced distractions, which made them unable to hear
properly from the other workers and this further resulted in fatal injuries and serious
accidents too. To ensure meeting the requirements and criteria for the Work Health and safety
Act, the construction canes need to implement the noise conservation program and even train
the workers to make them acknowledged about wearing hearing protection gear, furthermore
remain alert of the warnng calls o ensure mainetance of health and safety within the
construction industry.
Recommendations
 It is always recommended to follow the five major levels of the risk management
procedure including the identification of risks, analysis of those risks and probable
outcomes, evaluating those risks and ranking those based on that severity, treating
those risks and finally monitoring and reviewing the risks.

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 First and foremost, it is recommended to introduce the noise conservation program for
going through the monitoring and measurement of individual exposure to high level
of noise and then undertake preventive measures to keep people healthy and safe
without any severe physiological and psychological effect.
 It is also recommended for the workers at the construction site to wear noise
prevention head gears to protect their ears, though remaining cautious about any
messages or information transmitted by another worker within the concerned site.
 The employers are recommended to provide the workers with annual audiograms for
testing the hearing capability of the workers, furthermore, determine the level of
deterioration to their hearing ability within the earliest time possible
 The management of training sessions should further allow the workers to understand
the actual reasons behind the management of hearing conservation program and then
understand the need to protect the hearing, which should also keep the workers
influenced and motivated to wear the hearing protectors and take part in the
audiometric tests as well.

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