Investigating the noise levels in industrial workshops with fewer than 20 employees in the northeast region of Isfahan City in 2023

Introduction: Noise pollution is a significant factor impacting employee health. A large number of employees face noise problems in their work or life. Therefore, this study sought to examine the noise condition in industrial workshops where the worker population of less than 20 individuals.Materials and Methods: This descriptive-cross-sectional research was carried out in 500 small industrial workshops, each with fewer than 20 employees, comprising automotive service workshops, turning operations, plastic industries, door and window manufacturing, woodworking, CNC facilities, metalworking industries, and welding workshops. The chosen workshops were selected from a pool of 1000 available workshops through simple random sampling. Initially, the workshop gathered information regarding the maintenance condition of the devices, the noise type, and the device’s response time. workshop, including the maintenance status of the devices, the type of noise, and the response speed of the device, was recorded. Subsequently, a straightforward TES52A sound level meter was utilized to measure the sound. Results: The sound measurement findings indicated that 63.2 percent of the workshops exhibited a desirable sound level. The minimum, maximum, mean and standard deviation of the sound were 45, 105 and 79 ± 11.3 dB, respectively. 82.8% of the workers in the workshops exposed to sound did not utilize personal protective equipment. The maximum sound intensity was recorded in the occupational categories of door and window manufacturing (90.7 dB) and woodworking (88.7 dB). Additionally, the Spearman correlation coefficient for the equivalent sound level and workshop volume was 0.315 and statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusion:The findings indicate that the noise level in jobs like door and window manufacturing and woodworking exceeds the allowable limit, and the majority of employees do not utilize hearing protection devices. Additionally, the dimensions of the workshop and the number of individuals working in each workshop were recognized as factors affecting the equivalent sound level.