NOISE - DISRUPTIVE FACTOR IN WORK

Noise is a "by-product of technological metabolism", omnipresent in most workplaces, representing one of the discomfort factors for personnel working in the presence of this noxae. Knowledge of risks generated by exposure to noise specific to each activity carried out, allow quantification of the effects on workers such as: masking, auditory fatigue, sound trauma, acute hypoacusis, professional deafness. Accidental exposure to noise leads to auditory fatigue, which is a transient and reversible phenomenon, but prolonged exposure to high-intensity noise in work environments generates occupational diseases, eventually leading to permanent and irreversible loss of hearing (occupational deafness). The issue of noise is also of undeniable importance from an economic point of view, because of the low yield generated by discomfort associated to noise and errors in performing various operations, mostly caused by attention distraction. Because of mechanization and increased work speed, the number of people exposed to noise is constantly increasing. The current paper analyses the way in which noise generated by technological processes in the automotive industry influences the activity of workers, because the automotive industry represents one of the most developed and dynamic economic sectors, cars being manufactured in a sustained manner because the supply-demand ratio is extremely high. Preventive activity regarding noise exposure must be based on noise level determinations. In this sense, the purpose of the paper is the analysis of noise determinations carried out at an economic operator in the automotive sector, namely the production of metal subassemblies for car bodies and comparison of values obtained with the limit values set by in force legislation, in order to assess the degree of exposure to occupational risk factors present during normal working time.