Effects of noise on the well-being of railway staff

Smith, Andrew Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8805-8028 and Smith, Hugo 2017. Effects of noise on the well-being of railway staff. 12th ICBEN Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem , 2460.

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Abstract

The present study involved a survey of over 1,000 rail staff and the objective was to determine the effects of noise on well-being. One of the major problems with noise surveys has been the lack of control of confounding factors and the present study used a measuring instrument (the Smith Well-being Questionnaire - SWELL) that records information on demographics, lifestyle and personality, as well as job characteristics. The outcomes measured included illness caused or made worse by work, presenteeism, mental health problems, musculo-skeletal disorders, stress at work, job satisfaction, fatigue, work-life balance and life stress. Over 40% of the sample reported frequent exposure to high levels of noise and in some jobs this was much higher. After controlling for possible confounders, noise was found to predict fatigue at work, job satisfaction, presenteeism, musculo-skeletal disorders, illness caused or made worse by work, work-life balance, life stress and general anxiety/depression. These findings suggest that noise reduces the well-being of railway staff. Further research is needed on the non-auditory effects of the frequent and loud noise exposure in this transport sector.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Publisher:	ICBEN
Date of Acceptance:	4 June 2017
Last Modified:	23 May 2023 16:51
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/101547

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