Re:New York rolling out noise law, listening tech for souped...
by throwaway2037 on Friday May 20, 2022 @08:07AM
(#31446204)
Outside any major construction site in Tokyo, you will find a noise meter. I assume it is required by law and penalties are steep. The basis for my assumptions? Each time that I saw an enormous lorry approach a work site, the whole "welcoming" crew was very tense. Literally, the driver attempts to coach the lorry with the bare minimum amount of sound -- no revving the engine or changing gears. Also, I rarely heard the "back up beeps" because they will surround the truck with people in yellow safety vests. Plus, one or more people might be spraying tyres to reduce dust. It is quite a ballet to watch!
It's incredibly unlikely that a scaffolder operating in the city, during the weekend, is a part-timer. What you are seeing is the side effect of too much work, too little time, and the natural progression of staging.
Work on one "lift" (one floor height) of scaffolding progresses during the week. The "scaffs" come in on Saturday to raise to the next lift, ready for work to resume on Monday. Your crews are out doing smaller jobs during the week but all come in for a shift on Saturday to knock out a lift on a big site together.
And this isn't illegal. The local authority is responsible for setting guidelines, and those guidelines are used to inform enforcement notices that can prohibit a site's activities between hours _retrospectively if they're found to be excessive_. Excessive is a high bar for an enforcement agent standing 100ft below a scaffolder with a decibel meter trying to hear his impact gun over the drum of a bus rolling past.
The core guidelines are unlimited noisy work 8am to 1pm on Saturday. Work to be "avoided" on Sunday.