Noise Pollution in Factories in Nablus City

Noise pollution is getting more and more important issue, especially in the industrialized and developed countries. Industrial noise is a serious environmental problem, which annoys us and disrupts our daily activities. In West Bank, however, there are so far no regulatory laws to limit high industrial noise level. Due to general unawareness about the ill effects of high noise levels, the owners of factories pay negligible attention to provide safety measures to their workers. Accordingly, this study is concerned in measuring the equivalent noise levels Le., in 38 factories in Nablus City, then comparing them with the international standards of noise. The obtained mean-value of these levels is 85.5 dB (A). It has been found that the Lcq values for 40% of the selected factories are higher than the adopted international standards. These factories are considered noisy sources to the workers. The continuous exposure of the workers to such high noise levels can cause hearing damage, speech masking and annoyance. High-level noise not only hinders communication between workers, but, depending upon the level, quality, and exposure duration of the noise, it may also result in different type of physical, physiological and psychological effects on the workers. This study suggests some recommendations and advice -for the workers in the factories, owners of the factories and for the Palestinian authorities to relieve the noise pollution problem in factories in Nablus City.