Occupational Noise on Floating Storage and Offloading Vessels (FSO)

The purpose and scope of this paper are to provide guidance of the potential impacts of being subjected to high level noise recorded on 1st generation (30 years old) floating storage and offloading vessels (FSO) in sector offshore. The international community recognizes that vibroacoustic impacts from commercial ships may have negative consequences for both humans (worker's) and marine life, especially marine mammals. As regards the effect of noise on human health, there are legal requirements imposing the noise exposure control on personnel working on ships. The acceptable noise exposure standards are established in European Union Directive 2003/10/EC (2003), the NOPSEMA Regulation (2006), the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) guidelines (2006), and the recommendations of the International Maritime Organization IMO contained, e.g., IMO MEPC.1/Circ.833 (2014). These regulations inform employers and employees what they must do to effectively protect both the marine environment and the health and life safety of workers employed in the maritime industry offshore. This study also presents an analysis of the results of noise measurements carried out on exemplary 1st generation FSO units.