ASSESSMENT OF NOISE EXPOSURE LEVEL OF SAWMILL WORKERS AT OGBOSISI AND MBIERI TIMBER AND ALLIED INDUSTRIAL MARKET IN OWERRI, IMO STATE

Noise as an unwanted sound, it reduces the quality of life and causes serious chronic or acute health problems. Therefore, there is need to access the noise level to which sawmill workers at the timber and allied industrial market are exposed to by comparing measured noise levels with regulatory standards. A digital sound level meter Lutron (Model SL-4030) and a global positioning system (GPS) -NAVA 300 was used to measure the sound level at the two study locations and the results were recorded in Decibel (dB) for morning and afternoon working periods for six (6) days respectively. From the results, it was observed that all the locations sampled from station A to E were above the standard limits ( 96.15 to 101.65 dB) for both morning and afternoon in Ogbosisi and similar levels were also observed at industrial Market Umuonyeali Mbieri (93.19 to 94.96). Thus all workers within these areas were exposed to noise hazards which affect their health and hearing ability. Therefore, workers and operators who visit the site regularly and spend long hours close to the noise sources were advised to use protective devices such as ear plugs, ear muffs, goggles and nose masks.