Evaluation Of The Lep,d Index In A Dairy Of Rome

Acoustic pollution in workplaces on Italian manufacturing firms is regulated by law decree number 277191 [l]. The daily noise exposure (Lep,J for a milk worker may be calculated by instantaneous sonorous pressure level (dBA) and by the during time of exposure. The same law establishes conditions for the employer on defense of the Lep,d value. In the range 80-85 dB(A), the employer gives correct information to the workers about: a) the potential risks that they can suffer b) the individual protection systems c) the role of the sanitary control. For values greater than 85 db(A) it is necessary to adopt all the technical precautions in order to reduce the risk for the workers. On the results of data measures (in agreement with provisions I.E.C.), collected using a high precision noise meter integrator, for every characterized working emplacement of the productive cycle, it have been calculated the Lep,d that workers sustains. In detail it have been analyzed acoustic working conditions for several compartments: milk reception, chemical laboratory, pasteurization and homogenization, fresh milk packaging, fresh milk piling, creamery, sterilization, UHT milk packaging and palletization, compressors room, workshop, offices. l Provisions in force in Italy and abroad The induced solicitation from the sound wave on the auditory apparatus cause a temporary sensibility reduction of the ear that in literature it comes suitable with TTS (Temporary Threshold Shift). When the high-level sonorous pressure exposure ends, the solicited organ recovers in the time it really functionality; such recover happens in a varying time from some hours to some days. When the continuous solicitation period is long it may prevent a full recover of the Transactions on the Built Environment vol 69, © 2003 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509