การประเมินระดับเสียงในที่ทำานของผู้ประกอบอาชีพแกะสลักหินและทำาครกหิน จังหวัดพะเยา

บทคัดย่อ

Noise is unsatisfied sound which is harmful to the health and the mental health of the
occupational workers. Moreover, occupational stone carving and stone-mortar especially stone
turning and cutting machine used for stone cutting and turning process that these production
process has composed of various noise sources in working areas. Therefore, it is essential to
assess the levels of noise in working areas. This cross-sectional research was to assess the levels
of occupational noise exposure among stone carving and stone-mortar workers in Phayao
Province. Noise levels were measured using sound level meters. Descriptive statistics such as
frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistic such as analysis of
variance (ANOVA). The results showed the levels of noise in production process consists of
stone carving and mortar cutting, stone mortar lathe, stone pestle lathe, stone mortar chisel
and luknimit stone carvings were 99.1, 85.6, 84.7, 82.3 and 73.5 dB(A) respectively. There were
significant differences between the process of stone carving and stone-mortar working and an
8-hour time weighted average (TWA) (p<0.01). Noise levels in stone carving and mortar cutting
and stone mortar lathe were higher than the standard of Thai labor and NIOSH. In addition,
noise level in stone carving and mortar cutting was still higher than the standard of OHSA.
Therefore, these workers should wear personal protective equipment such as ear plugs or ear
muffs to reduce the occupational noise exposure in the working area.