Noise disturbance increases negative emotions and unsafe behaviour among construction workers

This study explored the role that occupational noise disturbance has on construction worker negative emotions and behaviour.

(NB: Yeah - they use the term “unsafe behaviour”, but if you look beyond that and consider how noise can influence behaviour more broadly then the findings are pretty relevant.)

Data came from 100 Indonesian construction workers and worksite noise monitoring.

For background:

·???????? Construction work activities can generate high noise levels, and this noise can have a negative impact on workers

·???????? “Prolonged exposure to noise disturbance can result in psychological changes, such as reduced awareness, and physical changes, such as hearing impairment, in workers, which affect their behaviour”

·???????? Noise disturbance when coupled with negative emotions can change worker behaviour

·???????? “ Noise disturbance is any unwanted sound that disrupts an individual’s comfort or activities”

·???????? Long-term noise disturbance is “known to negatively affect both the physical and psychological health of workers”

·???????? Physical health affects include hearing impairment, and heightened risk of stroke, hypertension, CVD and headaches

·???????? Long-term psychological health impairments from noise disturbance include anxiety, decreased cognitive processing and heightened emotional reactivity

·???????? Excessive noise also “hinders workers’ coordination, communication, and hearing of danger alarms, which further contributes to workplace accidents and injuries”

·???????? Noise disturbance can also slow down and influence brain performance in decision-making, which can alter worker behaviour

·???????? It can also elevate aggression, and reduce “the processing of social signals that are deemed important to work performance, thus reducing effective social interactions important for safety”

·???????? Negative emotions are “reactions to negative feelings that are detrimental to both oneself and the surrounding environment (Yang et al. 2023). Negative emotions can be caused by unmet needs, experiencing difficulties, and poor coping skills under pressure”

Results

Key findings:

·???????? “the risk of occupational injuries due to unsafe behaviour increases as the level of noise exposure increases”

·???????? “workers who performed structural works experienced higher noise disturbance and more negative emotions, and tended to display more unsafe behaviour than workers who performed finishing works”

·???????? “noise disturbance increases negative emotions and unsafe behaviour among construction workers”

·???????? “negative emotions can mediate the relationship between noise disturbance and unsafe behaviour”

·???????? “Managing noise levels, therefore, can be a strategy worth implementing to improve health and safety in construction projects” beyond the direct reduction in hearing damage

·???????? “Furthermore, requiring workers to wear a hearing protection device is not adequate for construction noise management. Involving mitigation strategies higher in the hierarchy of risk controls is needed for this purpose”

Expanded Findings

Across the project, noise exposures ranged from between 73 to 100 dBA. Citing another study, they indicate that “even when the noise exposure level was considered medium (<75 dBA), it can still distract people’s attention and decrease reaction time”, which may increase the probability of injury.

As noted above, generally the risk of occupational injuries increases as the level of noise increases. Noise at 85 dBA was, not surprisingly, “significantly more annoying” for participants than noise at 75 dBA.

Noise may lead to adaptive behaviours, where people trade-off safety activities to finish work more quickly, or may lead to mistakes via distraction and other cognitive effects.

In this study, noise was higher for structural works, and this “high noise level caused noise disturbance which made the structural workers behave unsafely”. This finding “shows that adopting one control strategy, in this case wearing ear plugs, may not be adequate for construction noise management”.

Noise disturbance was found to increase negative emotions among the construction sample. Higher noise is known to increase emotional distress, and this is problematic since negative emotions can increase the likelihood of mental health problems; already an issue in construction workers.

Hence, “Managing noises, therefore, seems to be a way to improve construction workers’ mental health”.

High noise disturbance can increase negative emotions – and higher negative emotions can influence behaviour, like the following of rules and other risk-orientated trade-offs. Thus, “the higher the noise disturbance, the higher the negative emotions experienced by workers, which then results in more unsafe behaviour”.

They further argue that “When exposed to noise disturbance, an environment which is fairly common in construction projects, workers may reduce their safety awareness, make mistakes” and depart from procedures.

Negative emotions from higher noise disturbances can also worsen already poorer mental health.

Link in comments.

Authors: Alvyn Prayogo, Haggi Sjors Teophilea, Paul Nugraha, Riza Yosia Sunindijo, Cynthia Febrina Maharani & Kaijun Yang (19 Aug 2024): Noise disturbance increases negative emotions and unsafe behaviour among construction workers, International Journal of Construction Management.