DISCUSSION

In this era of globalization, the industries nowadays upgrading their equipment to

more efficient and high quality machinery. These were happened because they can produce
twice more product than usual and at the same time have high quality standard. But in the
mean times, the workers that expose to the noise exposure from the equipment can have a
tremendous effect if it was a continuously exposure.

Exposure to noise at work can harm workers health. The most common effect of
noise at work is loss of hearing. Noise is an unwanted or damaging sound that may damage
your hearing and cause other health effects such as stress, hypersensitivity to noise, increased
blood pressure and increased heart rate. It can also interfere with communication at work,
which could lead to accidents.

Besides that, the objectives of this experiment are to determine the level of noise to
which the person or worker is exposed by measuring the Time Weighting Average (TWA) and
to evaluate effectiveness of existing noise control. For the first objective, to determine the
noise exposure level, TWA are uses to calculate the level of exposure to occupational noise
normally 8 hours per day from the workers daily routine, the average levels of noise and the
time spent in each area.

There are two different point sources that have been observed which is from the
Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) and diesel from the engine in the air pollution laboratory. The
dosimeter was used to determine the noise level exposure. Therefore, different distances were
used in these experiments which are 1m, 2m and 4m. the distance were measured by using
the tape meter and the reading was taken every 5 minutes for three data.

For this experiment, the results of the noise exposure from two different sources were
recorded by the dosimeter. The result was analyzed to determine the noise dose and the Time
Weighted Average, TWA. In addition, the result that obtained from the ESP and diesel engine
then compared with the OSHA regulation to determine whether it comply with the standard
and regulation or not.

Based on the table 1, the result of noise level exposure that obtained from the first
point source which is diesel engine showed that in the 1m distance, the average noise level is
80.3 dB while for 2m distance is 75.4 dB, and for 4m is 73.4 dB. Therefore, for the second
point source which is ESP the average noise level for 1m is 85.2 dB, while for 2m distance is
70.7 dB, and for 4m is 69.1 dB. It can be concluded that as the distance from the point source
increases, the noise level exposure for both point sources will decreases. Thus, it showed that
the closer the person or worker to the machines, the higher the potential level of noise
exposure to them.

Moreover, the dose for diesel engines noise exposure obtained was 30.80%, and for
TWA exposure equivalent for 8-hours is 81.5 dB. For the Electrostatic Precipitator, the noise
exposure dose is 39.88% or an equivalent 8-hour TWA exposure is 83.37 dB. The dose for
each point sources were in acceptable range since it is less than or equal to 100% dose. It
showed that both equipment were safe to operate as long as the noise level not exceed 100%
dose and 85 Db for period of 8-hours per day based on the permissible exposure limits in
Environmental Quality Act 1974. The workers were in a safe working environment and not
expose to the harmful effects from the noisy machines.