Indoor Noise Measurement

There are two legal regulations issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 2013 regarding the exposure of employees to indoor noise. These,

• Implementing Regulation on Protection of Employees from Noise-Related Risks
• Implementing Regulation on Health and Safety Conditions in the Use of Work Equipment

The first regulation is designed to determine the minimum requirements for the protection of employees from health and safety risks, particularly those associated with hearing, in the event of exposure to noise.

The second regulation was issued in order to determine the minimum health and safety requirements for the use of various machinery and equipment in the workplace.

The common objective of both regulations is to protect the health of the employees.

In the measurements carried out by accredited laboratories, dosimetric noise exposure measurements are performed for the employees in order to detect the noise that the employees are exposed to in the indoor environments. As a result of these measurements made on machines and workbenches in the workplaces, noise level curves are extracted, noise maps are produced by different methods and thus, the points that the enterprises have to take precautions and which cause intense noise are revealed.

While laboratories perform indoor measurements, they operate in accordance with the Regulation on Labor Hygiene Measurement Testing and Analysis Regulations issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 2013 based on the Occupational Safety Law. Under this regulation, laboratories can carry out these activities based on two kinds of documents:

• Labor Hygiene Measurement, Test and Analysis Qualification Certificate is given by the General Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety to the laboratories that fulfill the aforementioned regulations.
• Labor Hygiene Measurement, Test and Analysis Prequalification Certificate is given to laboratories which are not yet accredited in terms of measurement, testing and analysis methods of occupational hygiene, but which fulfill other conditions required by the mentioned regulation.