Design of Optimal Noise Hazard Control Strategy With Budget Constraint

An analytical design procedure to determine optimal noise hazard control strategies for industrial facilities is presented. Its objective is to determine a set of appropriate noise controls to eliminate or reduce noise levels so that workers’ daily noise exposure does not exceed a permissible level. From a given noise control budget, engineering controls will be firstly implemented, followed by administrative controls, and then the use of hearing protection devices. Six optimization models are developed and sequentially applied to select appropriate noise controls without exceeding the budget. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the application of the proposed design procedure

On Evaluation and Localization of Auditory Warning Devices for Adequate Audibility

This paper presents an analytic procedure to assist safety practitioners in evaluating the audibility of an existing auditory warning system in their workplaces. Two alarm location models are described: (a) a model with an unknown signal sound level, and (b) a model with a known signal sound level. A heuristic algorithm to determine a minimum number of alarm devices and their locations so that the warning signals can be clearly heard by workers is also proposed. The algorithm considers the ambient noise level, noise levels generated by individual machines, locations where workers are likely to be present, and noise levels at worker locations. From the numerical examples and the computation experiment, both the optimization and heuristic approaches yield solutions that satisfy the 15-dBA constraints. The heuristic approach is efficient in solving large alarm location problems due its capability to find near-optimal solutions within reasonable computation time

Decision Support System for Designing Effective Noise Hazard Prevention Strategies

A decision support system for designing effective noise hazard prevention (NHP) strategies is proposed. NHP consists of four modules: (a) database, (b) input, (c) algorithms, and (d) solution. The user can choose among single-, two-, and three-approach solution procedures. Heuristic and genetic algorithms are used to determine appropriate noise controls (NCs). From the given noise condition and NC budget, NHP recommends a minimum-cost NHP strategy that prevents any worker’s daily noise exposure from exceeding the permissible level. If the budget is insufficient, NHP is able to search for a feasible noise hazard strategy that requires a minimum NC budget