International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02982-9

ORIGINAL PAPER

Industrial noise monitoring using noise mapping technique: a case

study on a concrete block‑making factory
S. S. Ahmed1,2   · A. M. Gadelmoula3,4

Received: 28 July 2020 / Revised: 15 September 2020 / Accepted: 6 October 2020

© Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2020

Abstract
Noise mapping can be effective in visualizing and monitoring noise pollution levels in industrial facilities. Therefore, this
study aims to measure the occupational noise at a concrete block-making factory, create hazard noise maps, assess the poten-
tial impact on employees, and to suggest appropriate Hearing-Loss Prevention Program. The noise levels at 42-mesh points
distributed over all the production area are measured using a sound level meter, then Geostatistics technique is used to gener-
ate temporary noise contour maps. The daily noise dose and Time-Weighted Average noise levels are calculated. The results
revealed that the Time-Weighted Average noise level at all points, based on 8-h exposure, is higher than the Recommended
Exposure Limit of 85 dBA set by NIOSH. Moreover, the daily noise dose is extremely higher than 100%. Based on the results
of this work, a Hearing-Loss Prevention Program is suggested, where short-term and long-term circulations of workers are
advised. Additionally, it is found that, if the employees wear earplugs with Noise Reduction Ratings of 31 dB everywhere
in the production area, their daily noise dose can be kept within the safe limit; however, employees working in the control
room and close to the noise source are required to wear dual hearing protection device to further reduce their daily noise
dose over 8-h noise exposure. The results from this case study confirmed that noise mapping can provide decision-makers
with the necessary information to control and maintain safe noise exposure levels in any manufacturing plant.

Keywords  Noise mapping · Daily noise dose · Hearing conservation · Occupational noise

Abbreviations NIOSH National Institute of Occupational Safety and

dB Decibel Health
dBA Decibel, A-weighted NRR Noise reduction rating
ENL Effective noise level OSHA Occupation Safety and Health Administration
HLPP Hearing-loss prevention program PPE Personal protective equipment
NIHL Experience noise-induced hearing loss REL Recommended exposure limit
TWA​ Time-weighted average

Editorial responsibility: Mohamed F. Yassin. Introduction

* S. S. Ahmed Noise from industry is among the loudest sources of noise
[email protected]
and can severely affect the auditory system of employees at
1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, workplace. Rapid industrialization and the need for mass
College of Engineering, Majmaah University, production call for huge machines and production lines that
Al‑Majmaah 11952, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emit large amount of noise. The industrial noise spans from
2
Department of Mining and Metallurgy Engineering, Faculty annoying level to the level that can cause severe damage to
of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt the auditory system. Hence, it becomes extremely impor-
3
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, tant to maintain noise levels within permissible limits to
College of Engineering, Majmaah University, ensure safety and increase the reliability of production sys-
Al‑Majmaah 11952, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
tems. Nowadays, employers are forced to stick to national
4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty and international standards of noise exposure levels and to
of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut 71515, Egypt

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

take the necessary measures and precautions against higher by combined effect of road traffic noise and industrial site
noise levels. noise and confirmed the link between measured noise levels
The higher noise levels in industrial facilities draw atten- and felt annoyance. To determine the relationship between
tion of the researchers interested in the complications of occupational exposure to high level of noise and blood
over-dose noise exposure on the auditory system and the pressure, Nserat et al. (2017) studied a group of 191 male
possibility of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). Several workers for 3 years at 3 different industrial sites. The results
important researches have been carried out to measure the showed that the exposure to high level of noise is associated
noise levels and evaluate its effect on work environment. with elevated blood pressure. Furthermore, the results from
Farhang et al. (2013) measured the noise exposure during Yassin et al. (2016), Murphy and King (2014), and Singh
the manual concrete grinding process in an enclosed area and Davar (2004) confirmed that excessive exposure to high
and with different types of grinders. The results showed that, noise levels causes fatigue, sleep disturbance, high blood
the noise exposure levels were larger than the permissible pressure, aggressive psychological behaviors, and can even-
exposure limits and recommended that engineering controls tually cause a hearing loss. Consistent with previous find-
as well as hearing protection devices should be implemented ings, Rabinowitz et al. (2011), Israel et al. (2020), Ekerbicer
to ensure safe and healthy working environment. Also, and Saltik (2008), Aung et al. (2020), and Eleftherou (2002)
Wiley et al. (2015) evaluated the different engineering con- showed that the measures and controls to reduce the effect of
trols that were used to reduce noise levels in a tire manufac- excessive noise exposure can be effective in improving the
turing facility. The engineering controls involved replacing rate of hearing loss among workers in industrial sites, but
the worn machine elements, ensuring proper alignment, and cannot completely eliminate the possibility of occupational
applying periodic preventative maintenance. These controls hearing loss.
proved to be effective in reducing the noise level. Addition- Proper evaluation of noise exposure levels in industrial
ally, Eric et al. (2015) evaluated the implemented engineer- sites requires precise mapping of noise measurements. At
ing controls as well as other administrative and personal high spatial and temporal resolutions, Lake et al. (2015)
controls to reduce noise exposure levels in an underground performed a real-time measurement of noise levels in two
mine. It was found that, despite all applied controls, noise industrial facilities with the aid of roving monitors. The
exposure levels exceeded regulatory limits, and recom- results showed that the spatial resolution has little effect
mended that employers should act to improve the imple- on the accuracy of noise maps when compared with the
mented controls and to force miners to wear the appropriate instantaneous variation of noise level. To generate accurate
protective devices. noise maps, Wei et al. (2016) developed a model to dynami-
Recently, Sun and Azman (2018) used the published cally update the noise map every 15 min based on measure-
health and safety data from Mine Safety and Health Admin- ments of sound pressure level, and the model was validated
istration (MSHA) to assess hearing conservation compliance experimentally.
in mining industry, and found that the adopted measures and As noise and vibration affect the functional and safety
precautions are, in most cases, insufficient to achieve the features of industrial facility which in turn affect the safety
goals of hearing conservation program. of operation and product quality, Tomozei et al. (2011) and
The complications of exposure to high levels of noise on Catana (2013) investigated the different methods to control
workers’ health have been the focus of several studies. The noise in industrial sites; it was reported that the noise con-
risk assessment of workers exposed to noise pollution in trol methods are effective only when considering the nature
textile plant was analyzed by Roozbahani et al. (2009) for of noise, the device which produces noise, the propagation
a sample of 60 workers. The results revealed that, among pathways and the environment in which it propagates. Noise
workers being exposed to the noise pollution in the factory, control processes are usually aim at reducing noise exposure
a distinct increase in hearing loss cases at high frequencies levels to meet the international standards, Barron (2003).
was noticed; also, the questionnaire results indicated that The purpose of such standards is to set the permissible expo-
workers feel symptoms such as headache, no sense centrali- sure limits for safe and healthy working environment. In
zation, excitement nervousness and vertigo. The annoy- this regard, the National Institute for Occupational Safety
ance level of workers from different industrial sections was and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit
investigated by Ali (2011) for 683 workers at 15 different (REL) of 85 dBA for noise level over an 8-h working shift.
industrial sites. At measured noise levels of 70–100 dBA, Table 1 shows the permissible duration of exposure to dif-
the results revealed that 47.1% of workers were highly ferent noise levels according to the NIOSH.
annoyed and 5.8% experienced damage to their auditory Concrete block-making factory is one of the noisiest
system. Furthermore, the study concluded that increased manufacturing sites at which the workers face a real risk of
level of noise increases the possibility of accidents risks. hearing loss. Therefore, the present study aims at measuring
Also, Pierrette et al. (2012) studied the annoyance caused the noise levels in the production area, mapping of noise

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Table 1  Combinations of noise exposure levels and durations that no manufacturing type, (2) the industrial unit should be of a
worker exposure shall equal or exceed, NIOSH (1998) mass production type, (3) the industrial unit should be of a
Exposure level, dBA Permissible duration dense employment type, and (4) the equipment and produc-
tion lines within the industrial unit should be of a modern
Hour Minute Second
type. Based on these criteria, a concrete block-making fac-
85 8 0 0 tory in Sudair Industrial City (about 120 km to the north
86 6 21 0 of Riyadh, KSA) was selected for this study. The factory is
87 5 2 0 composed of five main areas: (1) the concrete mixing plant,
88 4 0 0 (2) the production area, (3) the block curing chamber, (4) the
89 3 10 0 maintenance area, and (5) the finished products open area.
90 2 31 0 The production area was selected for the present study as
91 2 0 0 the noise level in that zone is the highest among other areas.
92 1 35 0 The production area is a room of 27.4 m width and 24.9 m
93 1 16 0 depth and with exposed trusses ceiling, Fig. 1.
94 1 0 0 The installed concrete block-making production line is a
95 0 47 37 modern, high-efficiency full automated production line sup-
⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ plied by Masa GmbH. The production line has been installed
110 0 1 29 only 3-years ago and is well-maintained as instructed by
111 0 1 11 the manufacturer. The concrete block-making process starts
⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ with conveying the different materials from the aggregate
130–140 0 0 < 1 silos to the mixing plant where the concrete is produced.
The fresh concrete is then transported to the block-making
machine at which the concrete is filled into the mold and
measurements to create accurate hazard maps, assessing compacted. Manufactured concrete blocks are then trans-
the potential effects of measured noise levels on workers’ ported to the curing chamber to control its moisture con-
auditory system, and suggest the appropriate hearing-loss tent. Finally, the finished and cured blocks are arranged into
prevention program (HLPP) that conforms to regulatory cubes to be transferred, using automatic manipulator, out of
standards of noise exposure levels. The criteria for select- the production area, and the empty pallets are fed back into
ing the industrial unit, noise measurement instruments, and the concrete block-making machine for a new production
the ways how to process the measured data are described cycle, Masa GmbH (2016). The installed concrete block-
in “Materials and methods” section. Also, detailed discus- making machine, which contributes most to the high noise
sions of obtained results and suggested HLPP are included in level in the production area, has the technical specifications
“Results and discussion” section. Finally, “Conclusion” sec- given in Table 2.
tion outlined the conclusions extracted from this study along
with suggestions and recommendations for future studies.
It is noteworthy that all field measurements have been Noise level measurements
carried out on February 2020 at a concrete block-making
factory in Sudair Industrial City (about 120 km to the north For noise mapping, the production area is divided into 42
of Riyadh City, KSA). subregions and the location of a measurement point within
each subregion is chosen considering the structural and
organizational constraints, as shown in Fig. 2. The origin
Materials and methods of x–y coordinates is located at the lower-left side of the
production area shown in Fig. 2. Noise measurements are
To measure the noise levels in a selected industrial unit and carried out by means of a portable sound camera and sound
perform noise mapping, a research methodology is adopted pressure meter (PCE-MSV 10) with the specifications given
in this study. The following sections describe in detail the in Table 3. The device can be used as a general sound level
elements of this methodology. meter at any point without visualization, also it can be used
to visualize sound in real time, creating a visual road map to
Criteria for selecting the industrial unit a sound’s source. With the aid of PCE-MSV 10 as a sound
level meter, the noise levels at all mesh points were meas-
As the type of industrial activity draws attention to the ured. The device has a built-in function that averages four
anticipated noise level, the criteria applied for choosing the consecutive readings and displays/records the average value.
industrial unit are: (1) the industrial activity should be of a During measurements, the device was set to measure the

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Fig. 1  Layout of the studied

production area
4 9

Block curing chamber

1

Concrete mixing plant

2
5 10

7 3
6
8

Producon Area
1. Concrete block making machine (Masa XL 9.2) 6. Finished concrete block conveyor (out)
2. Control room 7. Curing chamber
3. Automac pallet roboc manipulator 8. Cross-over bridge
4. Fresh concrete block conveyor (out) 9. Pallet feed-back conveyor
5. Cured concrete block conveyor (in) 10. Concrete mixing plant

Table 2  Technical specifications of concrete block-making machine (Masa XL9.2), Masa GmbH (2016)
Standard pallet size Hollow blocks Rectangular pavers w/o face mix Rectangular pavers with face mix
Max. effective area 400 × 200 × 200 mm 200 × 100 × 80 mm 200 × 100 × 80 mm
Max. product height
Cycle ­timea Pcs/cyc Pcs/8 hb Cycle ­timea Pcs/cyc m2/8 hb Cycle ­timea Pcs/cyc m2/8 hb

1.400 × 1.300 mm 15 18 29,376 12 66 2693 14 66 2308

1.300 × 1.250 mm
500 mm
a
 Cycle time in seconds
b
 Production capacity per 8-h shift, at 85% efficiency

sound with A-weighting network and displays the noise level 8

T(h) = (2)
in dBA. 2(L−85)∕3
Equation (2) is based on an 8-h working shift and (3) in
Post‑processing of measured noise data the denominator denotes the decibel exchange rate. Then,
the daily dose can be converted into an 8-hr time-weighted
Once the noise level at all mesh points is measured, the per- average (TWA) according to the following formula:
cent daily noise dose (D) can be calculated as: (
D
)
TWA = 10 × log + 85 (3)
( ) 100
C1 C2 Cn
D= + +⋯+ × 100 (1) For processing the measured data, Eq. (2) is used to cal-
T1 T2 Tn
culate the marginal exposure duration (T) at each point,
where Cn = the total time of exposure at a specified noise then the daily noise dose (D) is calculated using Eq. (1).
level, and Tn = exposure duration for which noise at this level Finally, the TWA at all measurement points is calculated
becomes hazardous, NIOSH (1998). using Eq. (3). Noise mapping is performed with the aid of a
According to NIOSH (1998), the exposure duration (T) computer software (SURFER 15.0, Gold Surfer Inc., USA)
for which occupational noise of level (L) becomes hazardous to map the distribution of noise levels over all the study area,
is expressed as: Ahmed et al. (2005). Hence, noise exposure contour maps

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servo vibrator to avoid the formation of voids/cavities in

manufactured concrete blocks. The duration (T) of each
noise level depends on the type and dimensions of the con-
crete block to be manufactured.
As mentioned in “Noise level measurements” section, the
used sound level meter can precisely determine the source of
noise and display a shot of 4 images and the average noise
level. Figure 3 shows a sample result of noise level measure-
ment near the automatic robot manipulator. The device could
determine that the source of noise in this shot is the gripper
motor with an average of 97.15 dBA. As the noise pattern
in the selected industrial unit was fixed all over the whole
working shift, repeatability of measurements was assured
and the standard deviation of measurements at every point
was found to be less than 1.0 dBA. It is noteworthy to men-
tion that the noise level shown in Fig. 3 was the minimum
level in this location of studied production area; the maxi-
mum noise level at the same location is about 10 dBA higher
Fig. 2  Distribution of measurement points overall the production than these values.
area, (all distances in meter)
Time‑weighted average (TWA) noise level and daily
noise dose
for daily noise dose and TWA are created. The built-in Point
Kriging method was used to map the measured data. For As explained in “Post-processing of measured noise data”
this purpose, a mesh size of 92 rows and 100 columns with section, the daily noise dose (D) and corresponding time-
a total of 9200 nodes was generated and planar regression weighted average noise level (TWA) are calculated at each
is performed. For mapped TWA noise levels, the standard measurement point; sample results are given in Table 4.
error in fitting coefficients was less than 0.065. As the calculated TWA noise level is much higher than the
recommended exposure limit (REL) of 85 dBA, extremely
high values of percent daily noise dose were obtained at all
Results and discussion mesh points. It is important to mention that a daily nose
dose of more than 100% for an 8-h working shift is hazard-
The selected industrial unit applies an 8-h working shift. ous and can develop noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) to
In the production area, two employees usually sit perma- employees.
nently in the control room, one employee monitors each For the present study, the duration of the low noise level
block transport conveyor, and a supervisor mentors all the at every production cycle is 15.5 s, while the duration of
processes. The noise pattern in the concrete block-making the high noise level is 4.5 s. Thus, the production cycle
factory is characterized by two levels of noise: (1) low noise takes 20 s. To evaluate the noise levels at any intermediate
level during the process of filling the mold with fresh con- point, point kriging technique is used to interpolate between
crete, and (2) high noise level during the operation of the measurements. Figure 4 shows contour maps of measured

Table 3  Technical specifications
of sound level meter PCE-MSV Measurement range 30–130 dBA
10, PCE (2016) Frequency range 20–20,000 Hz
Measurement modes Indication of loudest source of noise; indication of
transients; automatic filter
Focal range Automatic: 0.2–5 m, manual: 0.2–50 m
Frames per second 4 frames per second
Display size 254 mm/10 in HD display
Memory 1 GB RAM
Battery life Continuous operation: 4 h Intermittent operation: 15 h
Dimensions 300 × 250 × 40 mm
Weight Approx. 980 g

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Fig. 3  Manipulator noise levels measured with the sound camera

Table 4  Sample calculations X (m) Y (m) Min. noise Max. noise Reference Reference %D TWA (dBA)
of daily noise dose and time- level (dBA) level (dBA) duration, Tmin duration, Tmax
weighted average noise level (h) (h)

0 0 89.8 112.6 2.6390 0.0136 13467.9 106.3

3 0 89.5 103.4 2.8284 0.1140 1798.6 97.5
9 0 88.7 103.2 3.4027 0.1194 1690.3 97.3
15 0 90.1 106.0 2.4623 0.0625 3131.8 100.0
20 0 93.6 105.6 1.0968 0.0686 3191.0 100.0
26 0 92.7 107.4 1.3503 0.0452 4439.0 101.5
⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮
9 24 90.5 111.0 2.2449 0.0197 9419.6 104.7
15 24 97.2 119.0 0.4774 0.0031 59355.8 112.7
20 24 91.4 114.0 1.8234 0.0098 18626.9 107.7
26 24 94.4 112.0 0.9117 0.0156 12200.0 105.9

minimum, measured maximum, calculated TWA noise lev- machine; this is primarily due to the extremely high noise
els, and the typical noise pattern in the studied manufac- resulting from the operation of servo vibrator.
turing plant. It can be noticed that maximum noise levels On the other hand, the area between the control room and
are found in and around the room of concrete block-making automatic manipulator is characterized by a sharp decrease

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International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

(a) Minimum noise level, dBA (b) Maximum noise levels, dBA

15.5 sec Maximum level

Noise level

20 sec Minimum level

Time (s)
(c) TWA noise levels, dBA (d) Typical noise pattern in the concreteblock-making factory

Fig. 4  Contour map and typical noise pattern of measured noise levels

in noise level; this sharp attenuation is mainly attributed (

d1
)2
to the effect of obstacles/barriers close to the noise source ΔdBA = L2 − L1 = 10 × log (4)
d2
on the propagation of sound pressure waves. Furthermore,
noticeable low noise levels were observed near the entrance where L1 and L2 are the sound levels at radial distances d1
of the production area (x = 0–15 m, y = 0–8 m). It should be and d2 from the point source, respectively. Moreover, as the
pointed out that, if sound reflection and sound interference factory floor is rigid and comparatively smooth, reflection
is neglected, when a point source radiates sound equally in of sound waves at the ground and subsequent interference of
all directions, the sound level is reduced by 6 dBA for each reflected waves with radially propagating waves may attenu-
doubling of distance from the source, OSHA (1983); this is ate the sound pressure level several meters away from the
called inverse-square law and is expressed as: noise source; according to Wiener and Keast (2005) and

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

Samara and Tsitsoni (2011), this effect is commonly called To further clarify the measurements results, a 3D surface
“ground effect.” Furthermore, the presence of solid barriers plot of minimum noise levels (lower surface), TWA noise
such as concrete blocks transport conveyors may contribute, levels (middle surface), and maximum noise levels (upper
in part, to attenuate the sound pressure waves. surface) are shown in Fig. 5a; also, Fig. 5b shows profiles of
Additionally, the absorption of acoustic energy by action noise levels at three different sections (y = 5, 15, and 20 m).
of molecular relaxion can attenuate the high frequency com- Profile 1 is a section across the room of concrete block-mak-
ponent of sound pressure waves over long distances, Har- ing machine (at y = 20 m), while Profile 2 is a section across
ris (2005). The combination of inverse-square law effect, the control room (at y = 15 m), and Profile 3 is a section near
ground effect, solid barriers effect, molecular relaxation the entrance and across the manipulator (at y = 5 m). The
effect, and the absence of reflection wall at entrance may noise level profiles show that the TWA noise levels is much
explain the reason behind the existence of low-noise region closer to the measured maximum noise levels at all points,
in the area bounded by ordinates (x = 0–15 m, y = 0–8 m). and the noise levels increase slightly near the boundaries of
Also, it is clear from the figure that the TWA noise lev- production area, as explained earlier. The results show that
els increase toward the side walls of production area; this the TWA noise levels of all profiles are much higher than
result may be explained by the fact that the measured noise the REL of 85 dBA.
level at any point is composed of two components: (1) direct The anticipated daily noise dose (D) was calculated using
noise field that transmits directly from noise source to the Eq. (1) over 8-h working shift and the results are plotted in
sound level meter at this point and does not undergo reflec- Fig. 6a. The results from Fig. 6a show clearly that the meas-
tion at any surface, and (2) the reflected sound which are ured noise dose can cause severe damage to the auditory
sound waves reflected at least once from the room walls, Fry system of employees unless instructed to limit their dura-
(2013). The energy of sound waves is dissipated every time tion of exposure to such high noise levels or wear hearing
the wave reflects from a wall. Therefore, in the area near the protection devices. Fortunately, the employees, other than
room boundaries, the sound waves just reflect from the wall those of the control room, usually do not have to stay the
and conserve most of its energy, and thus contribute most to whole shift inside the production area; they go in-and-out,
the elevated noise levels there. exchange position, and normally stay for discrete periods of

Fig. 5  Variation of noise level over/across the production area

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International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

Fig. 6  Daily noise dose

time; also, there is no need for any employee to exist in the In the studied production area, the employees are not
room of concrete block-making machine. exposed to such higher levels of noise for 8-h, therefore
wearing earplugs is expected to attenuate the noise levels
significantly. Following NIOSH standards, for earplugs
Suggested hearing loss prevention program (HLPP) with noise reduction rating (NRR) of 31 dBA, the effec-
tive A-weighted noise level (ENL) is calculated as:
As the TWA noise level at all measurement points is higher
than the REL of 85 dBA and the corresponding daily noise
ENL = dBA − (NRR − 7) (5)
dose is higher than 100%, employees of the studied industrial Once the ENL at all points is calculated, the modified
unit are more likely to experience NIHL unless an HLPP is daily noise dose can be obtained using Eq. (1). Figure 6b
strictly applied. For this purpose, appropriate engineering shows a contour plot of calculated daily noise dose when
solutions and/or administrative controls may be applied to using earplugs with NRR of 31 dB. The figure shows that
further reduce the noise levels at work area. However, the wearing the earplugs can reduce the daily noise dose (D)
occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) rec- to safe levels in most zones of the production area. As an
ommends wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) and example, in the control room, the workers who do not wear
applying a hearing conservation program if the noise level the earplugs are exposed to a daily noise dose that ranges
can be attenuated effectively with such equipment, OSHA from 1000 to 5200%, meanwhile this daily noise dose is
(2018). The commonly hearing protection devices provide reduced to less than 220% when wearing the earplugs.
either single or dual protection; earmuffs and earplugs are Furthermore, when wearing such earplugs, the workers
examples of single hearing protection devices and are to be will be exposed to a safe daily noise dose of less than 40%
used when the TWA noise level is 85 dBA or higher. Earplug in most accessible areas.
with earmuff combination is a dual protection device used However, the values of D at some parts of the con-
when the TWA noise level for 8-h exposure is higher than trol room still higher than permissible limits. Fol-
105 dBA. lowing OSHA, when using dual protection (earmuffs

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 International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

with earplugs), the formula to calculate the effective • Raise the workers awareness of potential noise harms
A-weighted noise level is expressed as; on their auditory system,
• Periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of imple-
ENL = dBA − [(NRR − 7) + 5] (6) mented HLPP.
Hence, the ENL is further reduced when wearing a pro-
tection device composed of earplugs and earmuffs combi-
nation. Therefore, workers need to be existed for long time Conclusion
in the control room are urged to wear such dual protection
devices. In the present study, noise exposure levels in a modern
Based on the standard of NIOSH (1998), any HLPP for concrete block-making factory are evaluated, and for noise
the studied concrete block-making factory should include monitoring, a Geostatistics (Kriging) technique is used to
the following: map the noise measurements over the studied production
area. Based on 8-h exposure, TWA noise levels and daily
1. Before employment noise dose were calculated. The results revealed that, the
TWA noise levels range from 100 to 120 dBA, and daily
• Audiometric examination of all field workers.
noise dose was found to be much higher than the permissible
• Keeping a record of worker’s audiogram results,
safe limit. Therefore, an HLPP is suggested based on NIOSH
especially the Hearing Threshold Level (HTL), to
recommendations and considering the pattern of noise in the
evaluate the changes in worker’s hearing relative to
manufacturing facility being studied. Also, the study con-
his or her baseline audiogram.
firmed that, for the studied noise exposure levels, wearing a
2. After employment hearing protection device can effectively bring the TWA and
daily noise dose back to safe exposure limits. However, the
• Periodic evaluation of noise levels in the produc-
generated hazard maps can help in determining the suitable
tion area,
hearing protection device to be used at any zone inside the
• Annual audiometric evaluation of employees,
production area.
• Forcing the employees to use hearing protection
devices (earplugs everywhere in the production Acknowledgements  The authors would like to thank the Deanship of
area and earplugs with earmuff combination in the Scientific Research at Majmaah University for supporting this research
control room, work under Project No. 1439-69.

3. Administrative actions for remedy Funding  This work is supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research
at Majmaah University: Project No. 1439-69.
• Short-term circulation (during the working shift)
between employees inside the production area,
Data availability  All the data used to support the findings of
• Long-term circulation (every week) between the
this study are included within the article.
employees inside and outside the production area,
• Impose engineered solutions for dominant noise
Code availability  Software: SURFER 15.0, Gold Surfer Inc.,
sources,
USA.

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Compliance with ethical standards  Lake K, Zhu J, Wang H, Volckens J, Kirsten AK (2015) Effects of
data sparsity and spatiotemporal variability on hazard maps of
workplace noise. J Occup Environ Hyg 12(4):256–265. https​://
Conflict of interest  The authors declare that they have no conflict of
doi.org/10.1080/15459​624.2014.96358​9
interest.
Masa GmbH (2016) Concrete block making machines extra large ver-
sion: XL 9.2, Germany
Murphy E, King E (2014) Environmental noise pollution, noise map-
ping, public health, and policy, 1st edn. Elsevier Publications,
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