Links at Noise Testing Equipment Com
offers resources to organizations
For more information about noise standards and regulations, please visit the following websites. While not a definitive guide, these websites are some of the most common regulating bodies of safety standards.
American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists
American National Standards Institute
American Society for Testing and Materials International
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Environmental Protection Agency
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Hygiene
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Casella Cel points out that one of the early steps in noise monitoring is to ask
Is a Noise Dosimeter or Sound Level Meter best for my application?
The above links provide insight to assist with compliance. However, the TWA or Noise Dose can be obtained from measurements using either a traditional integrating sound level meter or personal noise dosimeter. The sound level meter is a hand held instrument, such as the CEL-620, used to gather the different noise levels produced by different machines or work processes. A personal noise dosimeter, such as the CEL-350, is a small, lightweight instrument worn on the worker, to accurately monitor their exposure throughout the day, regardless of their location or work being performed. It samples all the noise to which the worker is exposed by means of a small microphone mounted on the shoulder in the ‘hearing zone’. Multiple measurements using noise dosimeters can be made, allowing more than one worker to be monitored without having to download the results after each measurement. Intrinsically safe CEL-350 noise dosimeters are available for use in hazardous areas as defined by NFPA and other safety codes for operating safely in explosive or flammable environments.
When measurement results are obtained using an IEC and ANSI standards compliant sound level meter or noise dosimeter, a Safety Engineer, Certified Safety Professional (CSP) or Industrial Hygienist (IH) can easily review the noise exposure levels and compare them against regulatory compliance limits or stricter internal limits based on corporate policy. Instruments that “log” the noise levels throughout the measurement are extremely useful for determining the source and possible reasons for excessive noise exposure. Storage of continuous readings in the instrument’s memory allows the noise measurements to be transferred to a personal computer for further analysis and permanent archiving. The CEL-350 Dose badge and the CEL-632 logging sound level meter are logging instruments.