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Do your bit to keep the peace in this pandemic

Posted by Tom Peary on May 24, 2020 2:34:18 PM | Acoustic Barriers|Noise Reduction
Last week, Robert Jenrick led a Downing Street announcement which will see building sites allowed to stay open until 9pm between Monday - Saturday. The statement comes as the UK gradually eases out of lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
In this week's blog, we take a look at the potential repercussions of these new guidelines. 
The coronavirus pandemic has caused major disruption to a number of businesses – but on the flip side, this has resulted in a decrease in air and noise pollution. Now, construction sites are back up and running things are bound to take a turn for the worse where that is concerned. And what’s more, new guidance is allowing sites to operate for longer hours to help assist firms with implementing social distancing. But what will people living close to constructions sites make of this move?

Noisy neighbours

The decision to allow building sites in residential areas to stay open until 9pm between Monday – Saturday will cause a huge amount of additional noise pollution. There’s no doubt about that when you consider that standard operating hours of building sites across the country were between 8am – 6pm Monday to Friday – with Saturdays only operating from 8am – 1pm. The new guidelines will generate an additional 23 hours of noise per week - a 42% increase. This is bound to upset people who, in the last three months, have got used to things being a lot quieter in their neighbourhoods. It’s therefore important that companies choosing to work later understand the health implications of this and look at what they can do to protect workers and nearby residents.

How we can help

A power drill could drum up 130 decibels (dB) of noise when used; but the threshold of your hearing becoming damaged over time is 85dB. Continued exposure to noise of this level can cause a wide range of physical health problems including hearing impairment, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. It can also have a detrimental effect on your mental health, including heightened anxiety and depression. The World Health Organization has already warned that levels of depression, stress and anxiety is expected to rise due to self-isolation and quarantine during COVID-19. So it is hugely imperative that businesses do everything they can to ensure the safety and protection of those who will be affected. This can include providing workers with noise cancelling headphones or erecting temporary acoustic barriers which can be used to shield the site from the surrounding area. The barriers cushion and absorb noise by up to 99% which protects the community as well as workers. The barriers are lightweight and waterproof so they are great way to temporarily control the noise made by workers in a residential area.

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