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Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on July 7, 2004
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Ann. occup. Hyg., Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 475-481, 2004
© 2004 British Occupational Hygiene Society
Published by Oxford University Press

Noise Exposure During Alpine Helicopter Rescue Operations

THOMAS E. A. H. KÜPPER1,*, JÜRGEN STEFFGEN2 and PAUL JANSING3

1 Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University of Aachen, Kullenhofstrasse 50, D-52057 Aachen, Germany; 2 Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology; University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; 3 State Institute for Occupational Health and Safety of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, Germany

Received 9 May 2003; in final form 28 November 2003; published online on 7 July 2003

Objectives: We estimated the noise exposure of crews working in alpine helicopter rescue systems. Methods: Noise levels of the the helicopters used (Alouette III, Alouette II ‘Lama’, Ecureuil and BK 117) were measured with a device according to class 2 DIN IEC 651. These data were combined with the flight data of the personnel to evaluate the equivalent noise level according to DIN 45645-2. Results and conclusions: While the risk to patients should be limited to temporary threshold shifts the crew members are regularly exposed to equivalent noise levels of >85 dB(A) and, therefore, are at risk of permanent threshold shifts. Consequences for crew fitness to fly and for noise prevention (crew and patients) are discussed.

Keywords: helicopter rescue operations; noise prevention; occupational medicine


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