Noise Reduction Solutions for Medicine Tablets Manufacturing – Specifically in the Sanofi Vietnam Joint Stock Company, HCMC

Abstract

Ho Chi Minh City is now considered one of the cities with a high proportion of industrial production, both in scales of operations and the level of technical and technological application, leading in the Southern region of Vietnam. Although the development of industrial manufacturing brings many economic and social values in this area, it also affects the quality of life and weakness the health of workers.
According to reports on occupational hygiene and health care for workers at enterprises, the current situation of working environment pollution, in which noise pollution at construction sites and manufactures remains many problems and no complete solution. Working noise is one of the commons harmful factors that often causes occupational deafness when workers are in contact for a long time. Noise often arises due to the characteristics of production technology, old and outdated machinery, and working equipment.
This article focuses on analyzing and evaluating the current situation noise of the medicine tablets manufacturing of Sanofi Vietnam Joint Stock Company in Ho Chi Minh City, that uses production equipment such as vibrating screen machines, tablet presses, and compressed air blowers. At the manufactory, they generate high noise level that exceeds the allowable standard according to the working time and can affect workers' hearing health. According to measurement data recorded at the position of workers standing at the tablet press, the highest noise measurement result is 90.4 dBA (Leq). Therefore, based on the process of analyzing and evaluating the cause of the noise, the authors proposed a solution to add a silencer made of brass (SL) which is suitable for an air outlet of the tablet press and equipped with an acoustic form on the wall to reduce the noise level of vibrating screen machine. And so, the result of the proposed solution is a noise at the locations to be treated has decreased compared to the original measurement level from 10dBA – 15 dBA, adapt to the standards enable and improving the working environmental quality, and prevent harmful factors causing occupational deafness for workers.