Noise Levels in Softwood Lumber Mills

Charts give information on noise levels in California mills and can be helpful with questions of relative performance. Data were collected in noise surveys which now include about 15 percent of the operating mills in the state. In California, the lumber industry processes principally Douglas-fir, ponderosa and sugar pine, redwood, and true firs, and it is substantially oriented to large logs. Mills in the survey were producing from 60,000 to 200,000 feet board measure per 8-hour shift. These mills were representative of the California industry in terms of production capacity, but as a rule did not have well-functioning safety programs. Noise measurements were made with the microphone within 1 foot of the worker’s ear while the machine was processing material. The graphed information presents the working-noise levels in terms of octave bands. No single mill was as good as the lower limit of the graph, nor was any as bad as the upper limit. Most industry noise is fluctuating in character. Calculation of exposure limits requires an assessment of length of exposure at different noise levels.

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