Public Enemy: Noise
By Quynh Thu
Noise pollution is looming large not only as an occupational disease but also infringement of the private life of Saigonese residents
Ask a Saigonese these days what he or she considers the biggest awful nuisance for their urban life, and you’ll have the most probable answers: either “traffic jams” or “environmental pollution, especially air and water pollution.”
But another “public enemy” should not be ignored. That is noise pollution.
To back this argument, Saigon Stories will begin with some reliable statistics. Several weeks ago, Saigon Tiep Thi (Saigon Marketing) newspaper published an article which reported that deafness had outpaced silicosis—an occupational lung disease caused by the inhalation of silica dust—to climb to the top notch in the list of 25 occupational diseases in HCM City.
Figures obtained from the HCM City Center for Labor Health and Environment Protection show that during the first nine months of this year, of almost of 7,700 patients seeking health consultation at the center, 1,100 are deaf, or a rate of 14%!
A recent research conducted by the center on noise at workplaces has left worrying findings. The study shows that of 6,800 noise samples taken from 465 enterprises, almost 1,000 samples exceeded limits.
The research has also identified the most awful “deafening jobs.” Enterprises in the metallurgy and mechanical engineering sectors accounted for almost 50% of the violations. The printing industry came second with 30%, followed by construction, shipbuilding, and garment manufacturing and shoe-making.
Experts say that the sharp rise of hearing impairment and deafness among workers in the city stems from both a lack of consideration of employers and the negligence of employees.
Notably, factories at enterprises that had noise volume surpassing limits all ignored measures to reduce noise pollution. A worker said when he first joined the factory, nobody told him about the effect of noise at work. After one year doing the job, he felt hard to hear. And when he sought doctors’ help, he was informed that he had been almost deaf.
The Saigon Tiep Thi article quoted Dr. Huynh Tan Tien, director of the center, as saying that it is difficult to treat deafness as an occupational disease and the rate of recovery is very small. This kind of disease prompts patients to feel fatigue, have hypertension, change personality, suffer from insomnia, decrease productivity and be prone to labor accidents.
What we have discussed relates to noise and hearing impairment at the workplace. How about noise pollution in the streets and at home? The situation is by no means better.
Foreigners find it easy to point out a bad habit of driving Saigonese, that is their abuse of horn. Any riders or drivers whenever they are on motorbikes or in automobiles will honk their horns at any time and at any place. Some drivers honk when there is any vehicle in front of their cars without any specific reason.
In many cases, Saigonese have no way to find a peace of mind just because of the noise in their neighborhood or just the house next door. As part of the city’s history, many small manufacturing entities stand side by side with houses in the inner city. As long as these small factories are at work, they will make noise, often unbearable to people living around them.
Saigon is a booming city, some often say. But one of the negative sides of the growth is noise pollution caused by works, both public and private, under construction. Large public works, such as the HCM City environment-hygiene project, may last for years. Beside air pollution, such projects also make so much rattling noise. Meanwhile, many house owners want to renovate or build new houses, often at the expense of their neighbors as far as noise is concerned.
In fighting against this kind of “public enemy,” Saigonese residents are almost helpless. Regulations and enforcement are probably the solution to the problem.