Noise at a workplace: permissible noise levels, risk assessment and hearing loss prediction

Introduction. Noise is a major occupational risk factor that causes hearing loss, one of the most widely spread occupational diseases. Recently some new standards that regulate noise at workplace have been fixed and risk assessment in the sphere has become necessary, so now it is vital to get better insights into the matter. The purpose of the work was to analyze peculiarities of occupational risk assessment performed for workplaces where there was a lot of in-plant noise taking into account international documents and national practices. Analysis of legal grounds for occupational risk assessment revealed that the most important issue in it was to determine probability of a damage to a worker's health. Only an employer can manage risks as it is him who has created them; hygienists, as per ILO Convention No. 161, are responsible for informing and giving recommendations to workers and employers on prevention measures. Methodology of occupational risk assessment that is applied in occupational medicine is a scientific foundation in the process...