NOISE POLLUTION AND ITS EFFECT ON THE HEARING LOSS OF PORT HARCOURT REFINING COMPANY WORKERS

Abstract

Noise is a physical hazard that is inherent in the environment and poses significant health risks to the workers and environment as a whole. Sources of noise at workplace are generators, industrial machines, power plants, compressors, mixers, shakers, drillers and heavy-duty equipment (Ugbebor, 2014). In Nigeria as a whole, noise is a common physical hazard in most occupation. Otukong (2002) in his paper submitted on noise pollution discovered that “Noise is inherent in every human activity as its impact is either classified as occupational noise or environmental noise which includes noise in all settings whether at the community, residential or domestic level. The level of occupational noise remains a problem in all regions of the world” (Otukong, 2002). According to Omokhodion (2016) as culled from World Health Organization (WHO,2000), “in the United States of America (USA), more than 30 million workers are exposed to hazardous noise. In Germany, 4-5 million (12 – 15%) of the workers are exposed to high noise levels. Most often, noise is associated with almost every work activity; some activities are associated with particularly high levels of noise. The average noise level in developing country like Nigeria is on the increase due to the fact that industrialisation is not always followed by legislation and protection