A survey estimates that 6 million French people in professional activity lose 30 minutes of working time per day because of noise and noise pollution.
On the occasion of the “Hearing health week at work” organized from October 24 to 28, the JNA association is publishing the results of a survey (1) on the effects of noise at work. According to the survey carried out by Ifop, one in five working people in post loses more than 30 minutes of work because of the annoyance of noise, including 29% of those under 35 and 32% of executives and higher intellectual professions.
But being exposed to noise does not automatically result in wasting more time. Workers, for example, have more integrated this constraint as part of their work environment.
The health of companies is toasting …
The study estimates that 6 million working people individually lose at least 120 hours per year of work. Thus, 3,840 euros per worker would be lost each year for the company, or 23 billion lost productivity time due to noise and noise pollution in the workplace.
… and that of employees too
Noise at work also degrades the health of employees. According to another recent Ifop-JNA survey, 79% of French people say they have difficulty following conversations at work because of noise. And for 7 out of 10 of them, the noise generates a state of fatigue. 9 out of 10 say that noise is a public health issue. “The management of noise and its auditory and extra-auditory impacts now promises to be a key factor in the success of well-being initiatives in companies”, concluded the authors of this study.
Worse, continuous sound exposure above regulatory thresholds of 80 dB for 8 hours can generate hearing fatigue, which, as it is installed, in the event that the ear remains exposed to exposure even outside. of working time, will cause premature wear of the sensory cells of the ear.
(1) The Ifop / JNA survey was carried out from October 17 to 20 with a sample of 1,017 individuals aged 18 and over in the workplace.
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