High pressure air jet in the endoscopic preparation room: risk of noise exposure on occupational health.

After high-level disinfection of gastrointestinal endoscopes, they are hung to dry in order to prevent residual water droplets impact on patient health. To allow for quick drying and clinical reuse, some endoscopic units use a high pressure air jet (HPAJ) to remove the water droplets on the endoscopes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the excessive noise exposure with the use of HPAJ in endoscopic preparation room and to investigate the risk to occupational health. Noise assessment was taken during 7 automatic endoscopic reprocessors (AERs) and combined with/without HPAJ use over an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA). Analytical procedures of the NIOSH and the ISO for noise-induced hearing loss were estimated to develop analytic models. The peak of the noise spectrum of combined HPAJ and 7 AERs was significantly higher than that of the 7 AERs alone (108.3 ± 1.36 versus 69.3 ± 3.93 dBA, P < 0.0001). The risk of hearing loss (HL > 2.5 dB) was 2.15% at 90 dBA, 11.6% at 95 dBA, and 51.3% at 100 dBA. The odds ratio was 49.1 (95% CI: 11.9 to 203.6). The noise generated by the HPAJ to work over TWA seriously affected the occupational health and safety of those working in an endoscopic preparation room.