Noise Pollution in a Construction Site Report 2022

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NOISE POLLUTION IN A CONSTRUCTION
SITE
Student’s Surname
Name of Institution
City, Country
Email address

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Abstract- Noise pollution is the spread of
noise which has harmful effects on human
activities and animal life. Building sites
contribute to most noises that are
experienced outside. The main objective of
this report is to discuss the matter of noise
pollution in a construction site.
Construction sites produce noise which is
one of major acoustic polluting factors in the
society (Janissa, 2018). The main impacts
of noise pollution include interference with
communication, cause sleeplessness and
other inconveniences. Acute effects of noise
pollution in a construction site include
mental problems and hearing disorders.
There have been campaigns to minimize
noise pollutions through enhancement of
construction rules, public education by the
governments and other Non-Governmental
Organizations (Babisch & Ahmad, 2010).
Keywords: Pollution, Noise, Construction
sites, Construction noise, Impacts of noise,
Human health
I. Introduction
Noise is undesirable sound which has
volume or amplitude of loudness, class of
noise, or any other modality making
resonance or obscene. Irritating noise and
subsequent challenges, introduction of noise
pollutants from building constructions,
assemblage and all have come over to be
exponentially significant. The
inconveniences have impacts on workers
and the local residences. Construction sites
happen to be one of the known sources of
noise pollution (Dinesh, 2017).
Construction activities and demolition of
buildings usually take place in residential
places which are usually found out of towns.
Construction noise come from construction
site activities such as demolition, strategic
works and building renewal work. In urban
areas most of the construction noises come
from construction of buildings, highways
and city streets. Contributors of construction
noise include loaders, pneumatic equipment,
trucks, machine mounted percussion drills,
breaking equipment and air compressors
(Buket, et al., 2014).
Construction sector is a significant
contributor of pollution, attributed to release
of exhaust particles and a lot of noises
mostly from machinery and heavy
equipment that are used in fields of
construction. Too much noise is a source of
confound and irritation to human beings and
can end up causing hypertension, loss of
hearing and irregular heartbeat.

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Main Findings
The table and graph below show some
of typical noise levels found on construction
site and average dB (A) for some
construction activities respectively.
Table: Some of typical noise levels found on
construction sites
Source: CPWR- Center for Construction
Research and Training
Graph 1: Average dB (A) For Some
Construction Activities
Source: Construction Safety Association of
Ontario
II. Literature Review
A. The State of Noise Pollution from
Construction Sites
Constructions are always very noisy and
they are frequent sources of noise pollution
globally. Heavy machineries, groups of
people, power tools lead to extreme noise
choruses.
Between all of these sources of noise in
construction sites, many workers submit
hearing loss compensation claims as others
submit complaints about noises from the
construction sites.
B. Site Mobilization Management
This is an interdisciplinary field
which is basically aim at optimizing
facility placement effects on the workers
and nature. The objective can be
achieved by optimizing facilities
placements such as crushing plants and
batching plants which have destructive
effects on health of the workers. The
system includes proper management of

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facility placement to avoid harmful
effects by ensuring proper arrangement
of the facilities. It can be best enhanced
by use of computer programs.
C. Factors of noise pollution in a
construction site
The noises from construction work
places come from different sources and they
produce varying types of noise such as blast
noise, background noise, rotating noise,
idling noise, impact noise, squeals,
intermittent noise and howling noise.
Construction sites have different levels of
destructive noise, and they usually occur for
a short while where various traders camp on
a site as they carry out their activities.
Depending on the level and type of
construction, it is usually done outdoor,
indoors or both. Different workers use
specific equipment and machine to carry out
their jobs, and thus production of different
types of noises (Goines & Hagler, 2007).
The activities at the construction sites
frequently change as the construction
continue. At the early stage of construction,
carpenters may construct forms for the
cement workers to pour the foundation
concrete, steel structures maybe welded and
erected by steel workers, later on the
building is enclosed by roofers, stucco
workers and brick masons. Finally the
building is finished up by electricians,
carpenters, plumbers and ventilation
installers (Golmohammadi, et al., 2013).
Sources of noise that influence the
surrounding population in a construction site
include diesel power generators, transport
machines, maintenance and repair, welding
and cutting activities, erection and heavy
machinery such as trucks. Each of these
activities and use of different machines
occur at different times hence noises created
also vary with time. These jobs usually
overlap, therefore the workers and
surrounding residence that are relatively
quiet get exposed to the unfavorable noise
from the constructors (Geetha & Ambika,
2015).