Author(s)

M. Clerico & G. Pizzo

Abstract

The Italian noise legislation is based on the principle of protection of the population exposed to several types of noise sources. The noise exposure, beyond the direct effects on the auditive apparatus, could cause sleep disturbance, speech intelligibility, psycho physiological effects, that generate important states of annoyance. The real goal of the noise legislation is to reduce annoyance. Such legislation, however, is not sufficient for particular types of noise sources, like those generated by infrastructure works. In these cases the law gives authorisation notwithstanding the provisions in force, exceeding the limit values, but without creating damage conditions. The local authorities should then manage these derogations by characterizing the parameters that could be used to take control of the noise, and then to avoid several states of annoyance. The purpose of this study is to take into account the parameters that have been identified and to set up guidelines aimed at establishing limit values for derogation for the infrastructure works. The first step will be to distinguish between the different noise produced by different types of infrastructure works. The limit values will then be different for a building or street yard and for great infrastructure works such as a tunnel or high-speed way construction. The main differences are the plants and the machinery used for the works, but in particular the duration of the work. The limits will then be more rigid for long term infrastructure works, which are often also active in the night, because of a longer population exposure. These guidelines will be finally discussed with the local authorities in order to manage the noise produced by the temporary infrastructure works and to avoid the worsening of the quality of life. Keywords: noise, annoyance, infrastructure works, building yards, derogation.

Keywords

noise, annoyance, infrastructure works, building yards, derogation.