ABSTRACT

Exposure to noise in the working environment of forest machine operators harvesting wood in planted forests can compromise their health, safety and quality of life. The objective of the study reported here was to assess whether full-time occupational noise exposure among forest machine operators employed in the harvesting of Pinus taeda in southern Brazil aligns with the standards of Brazil’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Data were collected from four operators of self-propelled forestry machines that performed mechanised wood harvesting operations, including felling, extraction and processing of trees in planted P. taeda forests. The noise levels were collected during an eight-hour workday using the strategic measurement criterion for the whole day in the guidelines of Acoustics – Determination of occupational noise exposure. Noise levels were analysed according to the criteria established by NIOSH. The percentage of the risk of hearing loss was estimated according to the Portuguese Standard. In felling and processing operations, results show that the average daily exposure levels to occupational noise exceeded the action level of 80 dB(A). During timber extraction, the operators were exposed to noise levels above the exposure limit of 85 dB(A). However, given that the study’s statistics were directed to a comparative analysis, it was not possible to establish a hypothesis of inference on the observed variables.

摘要

在人工林中采伐木材的林业机械操作员的工作环境中暴露于噪音会损害他们的健康、安全和生活质量。此处报告的研究目的是评估在巴西南部采伐taeda的林业机械操作员的全职职业噪声暴露是否符合巴西国家职业安全与健康研究所 (NIOSH) 的标准。数据来自四名自行式林业机械操作员，这些操作员执行机械化木材采伐作业，包括采伐、提取和加工种植的P. taeda树木森林。噪音水平是在一个八小时工作日内使用声学指南中的全天战略测量标准收集的——确定职业噪音暴露。根据 NIOSH 建立的标准分析噪音水平。根据葡萄牙标准估计听力损失风险的百分比。在采伐和加工作业中，结果表明，职业噪声的平均每日暴露水平超过了 80 分贝（A）的行动水平。在木材提取过程中，操作员的噪音水平超过了 85 dB(A) 的暴露限值。然而，鉴于该研究的统计数据是针对比较分析的，因此不可能建立对观察到的变量的推断假设。