Noise
For the steel industry, noise is an important environmental issue that receives high priority from the companies. Many plants are in the vicinity of surrounding buildings since – in many cases – they have long been sited in the locality and have also been the origin of the surrounding community.
Industrial processes generate noise and steel production is carried on around the clock. Substantial economic resources are invested in noise-reducing measures but, in practice, it is not possible to remove all noise. To enclose all noise-generating operations and installations in order to minimise the noise involves both technical and economic difficulties. For example, it would require far-reaching, energy-intensive cooling of premises in order for the working environment to be tolerable for the employees and for the technical equipment to function.
The focus for the companies' noise-reducing measures should instead be on minimising the noise that is most disturbing. This is most frequently caused by incidents arising from equipment failure such as squeaking fans or faulty handling in the loading of scrap. Companies manage this risk through e.g. systematic maintenance, targeted training and direct feedback of the noise level on loading of scrap metal.
Legislative position
Companies have conditions in their permits authorising operation that regulate the noise levels acceptable in the vicinity of their plants. The General Advice of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency serves as a basis for the standards set by the authorities. The applicable general advice on noise dates from 1978 and indicates guideline values for equivalent sound levels for different times around the clock. This advice is under revision and the Environmental Protection Agency has presented new proposals in 2005 and 2009.
At present, steel companies have conditions set as guideline values in terms of equivalent sound levels for daytime and night time as well as possible maximum levels for momentary noise. Frequently, it is the guideline values for noise at night that set limits on operations. In the existing general advice, 45 dBA is indicated as the guideline value for night-time operation. This is a very low noise level and in many cases it is hard to achieve especially where buildings are very near the plant. Several of the companies within the steel industry, therefore, have higher guideline values in their conditions that are more reasonable from an operating viewpoint. Where standards for noise in the rest of society are concerned there is – for example – only a target value for road traffic of 55 dBA equivalent sound level.
Our standpoints
- An overview is required for how noise shall be managed for the benefit of society as a whole.
- The relationship between demands made on industry and the municipal planning process must be clarified. Otherwise, there is a risk of problems arising for companies. New homes in the vicinity of industrial plants may, in the longer term, lead to unmanageable demands for measures.
- It is unreasonable for industry to be subject to special treatment compared to the rest of the community where noise is concerned.
- Equivalent sound level is not a satisfactory measure of disturbance through noise. The focus of the noise control work should be on noise that is especially disturbing.
- Noise conditions imposed on industry shall be indicated as guideline values that are not directly subject to penalty – bearing in mind the difficulty of proper measurement and the temporary character of the disturbance.
