Effect of Noise Exposure on the Occupational Stress of Bus Drivers in Bojnourd, Iran in 2018

Noise is one of the most harmful physical issues in the workplace that may turn into a stressor. Transit bus drivers are exposed to noise caused by the environment as well as buses that can result in stress among bus drivers. Thus, this study was conducted in order to determine the effect of noise exposure on occupational stress of Bojnourd’s transit bus drivers in 2018.

This descriptive study is conducted by cross-sectional method. In this study, 110 bus drivers of Bojnord city were surveyed. The job stress questionnaire of Philip L. Rice (1992) was used to evaluate occupational health along with a sound level meter (971-SVANTEK) to measure the amount of exposure to noise. Finally, SPSS.20 software and descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and correlation tests were used for data analysis.

Findings on occupational stress indicated that the stress was high in 102 cases (92.7%); there was moderate stress in 4 cases and low stress in 4 cases. Sound measurement results demonstrated that the exposure level was standard in all cases. The equivalent continuous sound pressure level (LAeq) was 75.43 dB with a standard deviation of 2.74. There was no significant relationship between equivalent continuous sound pressure level and the stress experienced by the drivers. However, there was a significant relationship between equivalent continuous sound pressure level and occupational interest subtest (p<0.01).

Occupational stress was high in Bojnord city’s transit bus drivers and noise exposure was lower than the threshold. Since statistical analysis did not show a significant relationship between occupational stress and noise exposure, this finding is considered acceptable given the low noise exposure level among drivers.