Volume 6, Number 4, December, 1998 - Noise News International

Feature
Noise Control Standards for Machinery
and Workplaces
Hans Lazarus, Bundesanstalt fur Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, Dortmund, Germany
Dorit Zimmermann, KAN Secretariat, Sankt Augustin, Germany
HansLazarus isascientistanddirector
oftheteamfor noisecontrol
at the Bundesanstalt fur Arbeitsschutz
und Arbeitsmedizin
Dortmund (Federal Institute of
Occupational Health and Safety).
He received hiseducation incommunications
engineering from the
Technical Universities inDresden
and Berlin. He wrote hisdissertation underthe directionof
Professor Cremer of the Institute for Teclmical
Acoustics attheTechnical University inWest Berlin. He
worked in committees of national (NALS), European
(CENTC277), andinternational (ISO TC43) Technical
Committees of Acoustics. His main subjects are
nOise emission andreduction ofmachines, sounddistribur/on
in workrooms, noiseassessment at workplace,
and speech communication.
Since completing her studies in
chemical engineering at the University
of Dortmund, Germany in
the autumn of 7995, Dorit Zimmermann
hasbeenaproject manager
in the Department for
Ergonomics and Health Protection
within the Secretariat of the
Commission for occupational
health, safety, andstandardization (KAN). KANwasset
up in 1994to establish a common national position of
theGerman OH&Sinstitutions andsocialpartners and
to assert thisposition on OH&S matters in European
standardization at an early stage. KANhas to identifY
theinterfaces between Directives (protection aims) and
the standards (technical specifications) and act upon
themandates issued bytheEuropean Commission. Ms.
Zimmermann is the project manager for noise, PPE,
SCJ1~en work, and lighting in the relevant KANexperts
network for these subjects.
This is an edited version ofan article with the same
name that appeared in the European Safety Newsletter.
8-12, 1998 April-May.-Ed.
Introduction
A variety of international and European standards
concerned with various parameters relevant to noise
control are under development in order to properly
implement the machinery directive 89/392. 1,2
Standards covering machinery, sound insulation
products, workrooms, and workplaces are already in
place. This article considers the standardization
concept which underlies this standards-making program.
It also highlights deficiencies which are apparent
to employers and safety specialists
depending on standards to assist them in implementing
specific noise control measures. The quality of
machine-specific standards needs to be improved if
they are to bring the intended benefits for occupational
health and safety.
This article presents the results of a project commissioned
by Germany's Commission for Occupational
Health, Safety and Standardization, KAN.3
The project was carried out by the Bundesanstalt ftir
Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin (BAuA) in cooperation
with NA Akustik, Larmminderung und
Schwingungstechnik, NALS,4 and the lTD technical
documentation center. 5
The objective of the project was to assess the
need for standards-making for noise control, as required
by the machinery directive 89/392, and to
consider the control concept on which this standards-making
program is based. The relevant standards
encompass technical noise sources, various
modes of sound propagation, and the consequences
of noise exposure at the workplace. This standardization
concept for noise control is derived from the
existing European Union (EU) directives, national
implementation regulations, and the needs of occupational
health and safety practice.
For the standardization concept to be effective,
methods must be available for quantifying the
acoustical characteristics of machines (taking into
account how they are being operated), of sound insulation
products, and of workplaces themselves.
The relevant parameters and the methods to be used
for assigning values to them are described in the
1998 December
Noise/News International 201