Analysis of noise levels in industries in Kenya
Abstract
Noise pressure level measurements and noise
frequency analyses have been done in various departments
of different factories with a view to establishing the
nature of the noise problem in Kenya Industries. The
measurement results as presented in Chapter 4 and data
sheets appendices A and B have achieved this purpose.
Very high noise levels, some of which are
concentrated in narrow frequency bands in the range 1000 Hz
to 5000 Hz have been detected in many factories. A
combination of these high noise levels with the number of
people affected together with the working durations of
exposure has been found to be serious in textile industry,
Fasteners manufacturing industries, the informal sector of
Jua Kali artisans and mainly metal fabrication industries.
In these areas workers are daily overdosed with noise and
there is urgent need to find a solution to the increasing
noise problem in the Kenya industries. It has also been established that shoe industry,
rubber industry, cement industry and other general process
industries do not have noise as an occupational hazard. ,
The raw material handled in these industries absorb sound
rather than generate it as it is in the case of metallic
materials