Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Noise at work: Intensity levels in construction and extraction and food service occupations in 2016

September 28, 2017

Workers in 75.0 percent of civilian jobs were exposed to moderate noise levels at work in 2016. Another 13.3 percent were exposed to loud noise levels and 0.7 percent to very loud levels. Workers in construction and extraction occupations were mostly exposed to loud work (49.6 percent of jobs) or very loud work (7.9 percent). More than 7 in 10 carpenters and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators were exposed to loud work environments in 2016.

 

 

Percentage of jobs in selected construction and extraction occupations with moderate and loud noise exposure, 2016
Occupation Moderate Loud Very loud

Construction and extraction occupations

42.1% 49.6% 7.9%

First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers

33.3 53.9

Carpenters

71.1

Construction laborers

31.7 59.0

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators

72.8

Electricians

38.9 47.8

Dash indicates no jobs in this category or data did not meet publication criteria.

In food preparation and serving related occupations, 16.5 percent of jobs were exposed to loud work environments, and 82.1 percent were exposed to moderate noise during a typical work day. Bartending jobs were about evenly split between workers exposed to a loud work environment (44.7 percent) or a moderate noise environment (46.7 percent) in 2016.

 

 

Percentage of jobs in selected food preparation and serving related occupations with moderate and loud noise exposure, 2016
Occupation Moderate Loud

Food preparation and serving related occupations

82.1% 16.5%

Cooks, institution and cafeteria

81.0 18.0

Cooks, restaurant

77.4 21.3

Bartenders

46.7 44.7

Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

89.7 10.2

Waiters and waitresses

81.9 17.7

These data are from the Occupational Requirements Survey. To learn more, see "Occupational Requirements in the United States — 2016" (HTML) (PDF). Civilian jobs are wage and salary jobs in private industry or state and local government.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Noise at work: Intensity levels in construction and extraction and food service occupations in 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/noise-at-work-intensity-levels-in-construction-and-extraction-and-food-service-occupations-in-2016.htm (visited March 28, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle