Research Paper on:
Noise Levels at an Oil Refinery: A Study of the Noise Levels, Risk of Hearing Damage to Employees and Its Controls

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
As industry becomes increasingly mechanized, the threat to the safety and health of workers has increased. Workplace injuries, including hearing loss that has occurred as a result excessive  exposure to noise, result in a variety of costly losses, including workmans compensation claims and lost productivity of experienced workers. As a result of a concern for workplace safety, the  Occupational Health and Safety Agency, OSHA, has outlined protocols to help companies reduce the incidences of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Assessing the impacts of NIHL in the workplace setting  is one method by which support can be obtained for implementing preventative strategies in the industrial sector. Oil refineries are industrial companies that often experience a  high degree of noise pollution in the workplace that can lead to NIHL. In 2003, Chen and Tsai studied the characteristics of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and the impacts  of the refinery workplace settings in Indonesia. This study demonstrated the prevalence of hearing loss related symptoms in workers and subsequent identified noise-induced hearing loss in an industrial population.  This study provides the basis for the argument that NIHL is prevalent in oil refinery workers and poses a threat to workplace safety and health. 1.1  Literature Review Work-related hearing loss, also known has noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), is a significant workplace safety and health issue (CDC 2002).  "The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the occupational safety and health community named hearing loss one of the 21 priority areas for research in the next  century" (CDC 2002). While the Centers for Disease control maintain that hearing loss due to workplace noise is preventable, once it has occurred, it is likely to be permanent