Investigation of the influence of simultaneous vibroacoustic exposures on the operator

A new method of combined assessment of the influence of vibrations (hand-arm and whole-body) and noise hazards simultaneously acting on employees is presented in the paper. The method has been developed on the basis of tests performed in selected means of road transportation. The investigations have shown that separate estimation of individual factors leads to unreasonable omission of a certain part of energy influencing the employee. The suggested assessment method is based on the grounds of adding all kinds of the vibroacoustic energy. The application of this method allows one to take into consideration vibrations and noise occurring simultaneously, and due to this, the significant difference between results of the hazard assessment at workplaces in comparison to results obtained by previously used standardised methods is revealed.