Archives of Hygiene Sciences

en Evaluation of Noise Pollution in Small Workshops in Qom, Iran; and Its Situation Compared to National Noise Standards Occuptional Health Occuptional Health پژوهشي Original Article Background & Aims of the Study: Noise is one of the most important environmental pollutants. It is a global health problem, especially among industrial workers. Since there was little information about noise levels in small workshops in Qom city, this study aimed to evaluate noise in small workshops and compare it with national standards. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Initially jobs and workshops that were causing noise pollution were identified. Then, noise was measured with a calibrated sound dosimeter, model CASELLA CEL-320, in A-network, in 108 working places. The results were compared with national noise standards. Results: The total number of workers in the workshops were 317 people, and inside the workshops 76.3% of the workers and 66.7% of the workshops were exposed to noise over the standard threshold. Outside the workshops, in 89% noise pollution was higher than the standard city values. Only 11% of noise pollution in the city workshops, had a 1 or less than 1 dB difference with the standard noise threshold. Conclusion: Small workshops cause a significant amount of noise pollution in Qom city. This can affect the workers’ and the public’s health. Noise control procedures such as controlling the source, and direction of noise distribution, as well as setting up workshops in the right location, and far from residential areas is necessary. Noise pollution, noise, small workshops, industrial noise, Qom, Iran 157 164 http://jhygiene.muq.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-52-4&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Akbar Scandari No Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Qom University of Medical of Sciences Hossein Jafari Mansoorian h.mansoorian@yahoo.com 0000-0001-7465-3635 No Young Researchers and Elite Club, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University Alireza Mashkori No Department of Occupational Health, Faculty of Heath, Qom University of Medic al Sciences Zahra Ahmadli 0000-0001-8883-2036 No Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Qom University of Medical of Sciences Narges Khanjani 0000-0002-9870-5097 No Environmental Health Engineering Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Science Samira Norzaee 0000-0002-2583-7865 No e Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences Mohammad Fahiminia mfahimnia@muq.ac.ir 0000-0002-5730-9944 Yes Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.