Comprehensive vibroacoustic assessment of workplaces

The currently used standardized methods for assessing exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV), hand-arm vibration (HAV), and noise at workstations do not consider the situation where all three vibroacoustic factors act simultaneously. When both types of vibrations and noise are simultaneously exerted, the energy dose absorbed by the employee is greater than when exposed to only one type of vibration or noise treated separately. Failure to consider the simultaneous action of vibroacoustic factors results in an underestimated assessment of occupational risk at workstations. The paper proposes a method for assessing employee combined exposure to WBV, HAV, and noise. Measurements of mechanical vibration and noise were carried out at 5 selected workstations. In the case of two workstations, where the occupational risk, by regulation, was estimated as "low" concerning WBV, HAV, and noise, after applying the combined assessment indicator, it was assessed as "medium" (acceptable). These differences confirm that in the case of the simultaneous action of several vibroacoustic factors, the risk assessment results obtained using the proposed method will always show greater exposure than in the case of determining the risk based on only one factor.