Dennie Quill, Contributor

I am sure that age has a lot to do with it, for in recent times my threshold for tolerating noise has diminished considerably. Kingston has suddenly become an extremely noisy place. The bombardment of partygoers has been a long-standing headache, as their boom boxes assault the senses every night, but particularly on weekends. At 6 o'clock Thursday morning I heard music pounding from nearby premises. The police have demonstrated such a weakness to deal with antisocial noises so now we don't bother to call anymore. We wait with bated breath to hear of the mitigating solutions planned by Police Commissioner Hardley Lewin.

For many residents in the Kingston metropolitan area there is a new type of noise nuisance associated with construction activities. The spike in construction is great for the developers and the purchasers of new homes and the workers whom they employ, but residents suffer in their hell day after day. In my neighbourhood, for example, there are currently three building projects under way - within 40 metres of my home. At 7 a.m. the rumbling begins, and this continues until 6 p.m. six days a week. That is eleven hours of jackhammering!

City noise

Then there is whizzing from a welder's torch at another project while the resounding clang of steel hitting steel emanates from the third site. Added to that is the shouting, screaming and cursing of the workers. God help babies and the sick. Vehicles back up indiscriminately, creating a hazard, and construction material and equipment occupy the roadway. This is what some residents have been enduring every day for many months.

I know that a vibrant construction industry is a strong economic indicator so, inevitably, projects will have to be done. But is there a duty on the part of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation and the environmental agencies to ease the distress of residents by issuing general noise guidelines? Is it fair for residents to wake up to the rattling noises of a backhoe without prior warning?

We accept that we live in the Third World where anything goes, but is there no willingness to rise about this mindset and start doing things in an orderly fashion? I believe residents ought to be alerted to any major construction project being undertaken in their area long before piledriving starts. There should be full disclosure of what type of development is being undertaken, the anticipated duration of the project, the hours of operation, and the plans should be readily accessible for inspection.

Additionally, the building inspection arm of the KSAC should be vigilant to ensure that developers adhere to the prescribed mode of operation, and if there are breaches they ought to be cited. Fines should be levied at persons who ignore time limits and work during off-hours. Any developer who dumps building material in the road in a manner to obstruct the general flow of traffic should be fined. Is it unreasonable to ask that the vibrating noises of a jackhammer cease by 5 p.m. latest?

Apart from the discomfort of these activities, there is new research indicating that any sound louder than 35 decibels ought to be deemed a 'noise event'. In case you are wondering what 35 decibels sound like, here are examples from everyday sounds. A quiet room is put at 40 decibels, a vacuum cleaner at 70 decibels and rock music at 110 decibels. Those researchers based in the United Kingdom also found that the higher the noise level the higher one's blood pressure will rise, and for those with hypertension, there is an increased risk of developing heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and dementia.

Physiological, biomedical effects

Noise and overexposure to it has real physiological and biomedical effects on people, but who cares? This is something the Ministry of Health should be actively investigating, for in the end there could conceivably be greater pressure on the system to provide treatment for those affected.

I would like to challenge the media to undertake a survey to determine the level of disruption to normal life faced by residents in the Kingston metropolitan area who live near to construction sites. I believe the findings would be very interesting. I also believe that we should begin to seek compensation for health and other damage where these sites exist.