• Project number: F 2391
• Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) / N.N.
• Status: Completed Project

Description:

Working environment factors as noise, optical radiation and climate have an impact on health and well-being at workplaces. The determination of appropriate parameters enables checking the compliance with limit values and the initiation of necessary protective measures. These parameters of physical factors of working environment are not easy to measure: In small and medium-sized enterprises, there often is a lack of necessary expertise, measurement technology and human resources.

Guidances in the fields of "noise" and "incoherent optical radiation" were developed in the project on the basis of existing sources of information. Target group are persons who are responsible for the risk assessment in the company.

An Excel-based tool for determination of the noise exposure level is available for download at baua.de/tool-laermexposition (accessible via the German website only). The tool guides you step by step through the preparation and implementation of a measurement at the workplace and requires no special training. The operation occurs only via user interfaces. A lot of information supports the user in preparing and carrying out the measurements. The measurements are saved in the file and can be retrieved via a search.

For the field of optical radiation, an Excel-based tool for determination of exposure limit values and guidance for the measurement of incoherent optical radiation were provided. For optical radiation, the exposure limit values are mostly variable. With the tool, the exposure limit values to be observed and the associated measurement parameters can be determined based on the physical parameters (source size, distance to the radiation source and exposure duration). The guidance describes the steps of risk assessment. In addition to basic instructions on how to carry out the measurements, it also contains tips for simplifying and avoiding errors.

As of now, the tools provide small and medium-sized enterprises with practical means to carry out risk assessment in the respective fields of "noise" and "incoherent optical radiation".