ABSTRACT
Physical and chemical environmental factors such as noise, vibration, lighting, climate and chemical substances can affect people’s safety, health and comfort.
In this chapter we deal with these five factors in turn. Other environmental factors such as radiation and microbiological pollution (e.g., bacteria, moulds) are not discussed in this book. Guidelines on the maximum allowable exposure are given for each of these factors, followed by possible measures for reducing the exposure. In general three types of measure can be applied to reduce or eliminate the adverse effects of environmental factors:
• at source (eliminate or reduce source); • in the transmission between source and Man (isolate source
and/or Man); • at the individual level (reduction of exposure duration, personal
protective equipment).
