Choosing locations for noise dust and vibration monitoring

Noise

Noise monitoring equipment is best monitored at the nearest sound sensitive location to your site. In some cases perimeter monitoring (i.e. at the edge of your site) may be more appropriate, particularly if there are other significant noise sources in the area, but this is less common.

Vibration

There are two considerations for monitoring of vibration:

• Human exposure; and
• Structural damage to buildings.

Locations more than 50 m from the vibration source are unlikely to result in structural damage, but for monitoring purposes, locations within 100 m of the vibration source should be considered for monitoring.

Humans can perceive vibrations that likely to be 100-200 m from the source (such as piling), but these are not likely to be damaging to health and very unlikely to cause structural damage.

Dust

Local authorities and the Environment Agency teams generally prefer perimeter-based continuous monitoring of dust for enforceability and control, with receptor-based monitoring used selectively. The final arrangement should always be explicitly justified in the Dust Management Plan and tied back to the specific planning condition wording, so there may be some discussion to be had with the EA/LA here.

Next steps

Every site is different, so please don’t hesitate to call us to discuss.