Institute of Occupational and Social Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2010;23(4):323-9. doi: 10.2478/v10001-010-0036-1.
Although ambulance flights are routine work and thousands of employees work in repatriation organizations, there is no data on noise exposure which may be used for preventive advice. We investigated the noise exposure of crews working in ambulance flight organizations for international patient repatriation to get the data for specific guidelines concerning noise protection.
Noise levels inside Learjet 35A, the aircraft type which is most often used for repatriation operations, were collected from locations where flight crews typically spend their time. A sound level meter class 1 meeting the DIN IEC 651 requirements was used for noise measurements, but several factors during the real flight situations caused a measurement error of ~3%. Therefore, the results fulfill the specifications for class 2. The data was collected during several real repatriation operations and was combined with the flight data (hours per day) regarding the personnel to evaluate the occupationally encountered equivalent noise level according to DIN 45645-2.
The measured noise levels were safely just below the 85 dB(A) threshold and should not induce permanent threshold shifts, provided that additional high noise exposure by non-occupational or private activities was avoided. As the levels of the noise produced by the engines outside the cabin are significantly above the 85 dB(A) threshold, the doors of the aircraft must be kept closed while the engines are running, and any activity performed outside the aircraft - or with the doors opened while the engines are running - must be done with adequate noise protection. The new EU noise directive (2003/10/EG) states that protective equipment must be made available to the aircrew to protect their hearing, though its use is not mandatory.
尽管空中救护飞行是常规工作，且有成千上万的员工在遣返组织中工作，但目前尚无有关噪声暴露的数据可用于预防建议。我们调查了从事国际患者遣返的救护飞行组织人员的噪声暴露情况，以获取有关噪声保护的具体准则的数据。
使用符合 DIN IEC 651 要求的 1 级声级计在机组人员通常工作的位置收集 Learjet 35A 飞机（最常用于遣返作业的飞机类型）内部的噪声水平，但在实际飞行情况下的几个因素导致测量误差约为 3%。因此，结果符合 2 类的规格。在几次实际的遣返行动中收集了数据，并结合有关人员的飞行数据（每天几小时），根据 DIN 45645-2 评估职业接触等效噪声水平。
测量的噪声水平刚好安全地低于 85 dB（A）阈值，并且只要避免了非职业性或私人活动的额外高噪声暴露，就不会引起永久性听力损失。由于机舱外发动机产生的噪声水平明显高于 85 dB（A）阈值，因此在发动机运转时必须关闭飞机门，并且必须在适当的噪声保护下在飞机外部进行任何活动，或者在发动机运转时打开飞机门。新的欧盟噪声指令（2003/10/EG）规定，必须为机组人员提供保护听力的防护设备，尽管其使用不是强制性的。
