A person's overall noise exposure may come directly from an individual machine, but noise from other machinery or processes elsewhere in the workshop may also contribute to this. This means that as well as a machine operator people at risk include those working nearby, for example, maintenance fitters, cleaners, fork lift truck drivers and shop floor supervisors.
Below are some examples of typical everyday noise levels and noise levels for a selection of engineering processes where no steps have been taken to reduce noise are given below:
Grinding on a pedestal grinder 90-95
Discharging metal objects into metal bins 85-95
General noise level in fabrication shop 85-95
Hammering steel 95-100
Guillotining 95-100
Multi-spindle automatic turning 95-105
Circular sawing metal 95-105
Pressing - blanking 95-110
punch pressing 110-120
Riveting 100-110
Inspectors often comment that the noisiest item in a workshop is the radio.