Investigation on noise exposure and occupational hearing loss in a beverage manufacturing enterprise

  Objective  To understand the noise exposure of beverage manufacturing enterprises, and to explore the influencing factors of noise induced hearing loss(NIHL) of workers in this industry.

  Methods  A total of 182 workers exposed to noise in a beverage manufacturing enterprise in Guangzhou were studied. The noise levels at their workplaces were measured and the pure tone hearing threshold test of these workers was carried out. The influencing factors of NIHL were analyzed.

  Results  The non-compliance of noise level at workplaces in this beverage manufacturing enterprise was 70.59%. The worse was noted at beverage filling line and pure water preparation line. A total of 84 workers (46.15%) were diagnosed with NIHL. Logistic regression analysis showed that the noise-exposed workers with higher age than 35 years old, or with longer exposure time than 10 years, or working at pure water preparation line had higher risk of NIHL (2.647 times, 2.853 times and 9.000 times, respectively)(P < 0.05).

  Conclusions  The noise level in beverage manufacturing industry was high. The enterprise should take engineering control measures to control the noise harm and strengthen occupational health management.