An Investigation of the Perceived Adverse Impacts and Control of Construction Noise in China

Abstract

Construction noise is harmful to not only workers’ occupational health but also their work safety and productivity. But, workers’ subjective evaluation of the impacts of construction noises have been less studied. This study investigated the adverse impact of construction noise from the perspective of the workers and analyzed their responses for the role of personal factor (i.e. noise sensitivity) in perceiving adverse impacts and the likelihood of making errors during work. The results showed that noise sensitivity was an important factor in the subjective evaluation of construction noise and the likelihood of making mistakes. With the increase of noise sensitivity, the relations among some factors are non-linear. It was found that psychological impacts were regarded more obvious than physiological impacts to workers. And there was a significant positive correlation between adverse impact and the likelihood of work error. Current noise control methods could be categorized into five types and mostly singly used. There were no significant differences among them indicating less efficiency. The findings can facilitate better working environment for on-site workers to promote both their physical and mental health.