TAMPA, Fla., June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Public awareness of the health risks of industry-related noise pollution has never been higher. Industrial plants worldwide are incorporating serious sound abatement strategies into their infrastructure to protect employees and visitors from hearing loss and other medical issues raised by industrial noise pollution. When supervisors at the South Broward Waste to Energy (WTE) plant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida were faced with a 30-day project to overhaul the plant's turbine, it was determined that the plant's steam bypass system would take over the turbine's waste management responsibilities 24-hours a day for one full month. The problem with such a transition was the unbearable blare of the bypass system, which channels 900 psi of compressed steam through a 14-inch line and into a 7-foot diameter pipe at a noise level of 126 dB - somewhere between the sounds of an adjacent pneumatic riveter and a jet engine launch. The noise was so deafening that even with earplugs, employees and visiting contractors could not spend more than brief periods of time in the vicinity without risking hearing damage. Verbal communication was impossible, even if they shouted, while working on or around the system.
