Abstract
A noise hazard evaluation was conducted at a wood furniture manufacturing company in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canadas' most western province. The firm studied was an 8 room plant with a 13 stage manufacturing process. Noise level measurements indicated that the existing 90 dBA (TWA) standard set by the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia, was exceeded in 3 main work areas: (1) the wood storage room, (2) the cutting room, and (3) the shaping/lathe room. Audiogram results, for 13 of the 23 workers studied, showed that 10 (77%) had some degree of hearing impairment, and 3 (23%) had normal hearing. Of workers in the former group, 7 (54%) had early warning hearing impairment and 3 (23%) had abnormal hearing loss. A systems analysis of noise sources was carried out to develop noise control techniques at the noise source, path, and receiver.
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