Delhi Division to equip Loco Pilots with Electronic Muffs to fight noise hazards

Delhi Division to equip Loco Pilots with Electronic Muffs to fight noise hazards

New Delhi: To protect railway employees from occupational health hazard of exposure to high decibel sounds during long working hours, the Delhi division of the Northern Railway plans to issue electronic muffs, a device which suppress all very high-level ambient noises to medically prescribed limit.

Trial of these electronic muffs in real working conditions will start from Wednesday in the Jammu Rajdhani Express. Arun Arora, Divisional Railway Manager, Delhi Division, told that these electronic muffs would mitigate the adverse impact of high level noises on the railway staff working at critical locations.

Mr Arora said that the trial of the new electronic device (muffs) to suppress all very high-level ambient noises to 82 decibels will start in the Jammu Rajdhani. “Railway employees deployed at the power cars of the Jammu Radhani Express will be asked to use the electronic muffs during the journey from Delhi to Jammu and back. We will take direct feedback from the railwaymen who are exposed to high sound and employees working in power car are one of them,” added Mr Arora.

These muffs are an electronic device which suppresses all very high-level ambient noises to 82 decibels. This would mitigate the adverse impact of high-level noises on the railway staff and is capable of not interfering with the sounds below 82 decibels thus enabling the person using the electronic muffs to hear all relevant sounds clearly.

After a successful trial, railway employees deployed in power cars of all the trains of the Delhi division will be provided these electronic muffs. All the Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains have two power cars each to meet power requirements. In each power car, around four railway employees are deployed, adding to a total of eight employees in the two power cars of a train. Noise of around 120 decibels are generated in the power cars, which almost the fifty per cent extra from prescribed medical limit of 82 decibels.

After the successful trial run, the Delhi division will also provide these electronic muffs to employees working at critical locations like near wheel lathes, workshops, depots, diesel sheds and other areas.