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Spécial “ Noise at work 2007 ”
27
Acoustique
&
Techniques n° 49
Atelier : Le bruit dans les bureaux : conséquences sur
les performances - Traitements acoustiques
Acoustical evaluation and planning of offices
ost people of the working population spend the biggest
part of their working hours at offices collecting, processing
and saving information. This kind of work requires
modern equipment of information and communication
technology. Using these technologies it is possible to
highly increase the efficiency and therefore the productivity
of the workforce. In order to control these technologies,
hardware and software likewise, it is necessary to train
the operators professionally. Furthermore these jobs
demand that operators stay focussed for a long time. A
ergonomic design of the working places is required and
the environment should not detract the concentration by
disturbing immissions. One of these immissions amongst
others is noise.
The regulations such as Directive 2003/10/EC concerning
the protection of employees from harmful noise that can
affect the hearing, do not provide an informative basis
for the assessment of office working places. In order to
meet the requirements much lower target values should
be applied when office working places are designed. In
order to meet the increased requirements noise abatement
strategies and measures should be implemented. Therefore
the emission of each single source has to be kept as low
as possible and the room has to be designed in a way that
with a given emission the lowest possible sound level can
be achieved at the working places.
However these measures are to be regarded and evaluated
in combination with other requirements of suchlike office
working places. Also there are quite concrete requirements
regarding the sectioning of the working area, the seating
arrangements of the employees and their position relative
to their screen, keyboard and other operational controls as
well as their position relative to other workers, which also
should be taken into account within acoustic studies.
A description is given to noise layout for large scaled
offices with many working places. These kinds of offices
are characterized by intervisibility between the workforces.
They can communicate directly without entering a different
room. The gain of this easy way to communicate comes
along with some disadvantages or difficulties when
designing an acoustically acceptable atmosphere. When
planning these kinds of office landscapes it is absolutely
essential to consider acoustic aspects so that frustration
Wolfgang Probst, Andreas Frahm
ACCON GmbH
Ingenieurbüro für Schall- und Schwingungstechnik
Gewerbering 5
86926 Greifenberg
GERMANY,
E-mail : info@accon.de
http://www.accon.de
Summary
In an investigation financed by the BAuA Germany a systematic
approach for the acoustically oriented layout planning of offices has
been developed [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Basis of this concept was the result
of measurements in some hundred offices. Workplaces in offices are
acoustically qualified using three criteria – the identification of source
responsible for the existing level, the understandability of speaking at
other workplaces and the near sound pressure level in dB (A). Emission
levels of typical equipment used in offices are given to calculate
approximately the sound exposure at workplaces. A layout example for
an office for about 50 people is presented to demonstrate the systematic
of the acoustical planning and qualification.
Résumé
Une approche systématique de l’organisation spatiale des bureaux a
été développée dans le cadre d’une étude financée par l’Institut fédéral
pour la sécurité et la santé au travail allemand (BAuA). Cette approche
est fondée sur les résultats de relevés effectués dans des centaines de
bureaux. Les caractéristiques acoustiques des postes de travail dans
les bureaux sont évaluées selon trois critères - identification de la source
de bruit, intelligibilité de la conversation à d’autres postes de travail,
et niveau de pression acoustique en dB (A). Les niveaux d’émission
d’équipements couramment usités dans un bureau ont été utilisés pour
calculer l’exposition au bruit des postes de travail. Cet article présente un
exemple d’agencement pour un bureau d’une cinquantaine de personnes
afin d’illustrer une organisation systématique du lieu de travail selon des
critères acoustiques.
M