Occupational noise exposure in Portugal

Abstract

Given its relevance, noise is one of the main occupational risks in industrial environments. However, a structured survey about Portuguese occupational noise exposure was never made. This paper focuses on the main aspects concerning noise occupational exposure, presenting yet an estimation of the number of people exposed to occupational noise in Portugal. This paper also focus some aspects related to the future research perspectives in this area and the need to develop more efficient evaluation and analysis methods, in order to reduce, or even eliminate, the consequences that occupational noise exposure still have in workers’ quality of life.