The senior Audiology class and Instructor Sharon Adelman visited the Vancouver Airport Authority’s Engine Run-Up and Noise Abatement facility at YVR in early November. This was the capstone to our course on Noise and Hearing Conservation. We were hosted by Mark Cheng, Supervisor of YVR’s Noise Abatement and Air Quality programs, and Kevin Hong, Manager of corporate Health and Safety. Mark, Kevin, and their staff discussed noise management at YVR, as it relates both to their community commitments, and to the hearing conservation program of their own workers. We saw real-time noise monitor data which YVR collects from 11 sites around the Lower Mainland, and learned about their community consultation program. As well, an air-side tour took us across the airport aprons and other work areas, and to the stat-of-the-art Engine Run-Up test facility. This structure is the first of its kind in Canada. It allows aircraft engines to be revved and tested after mechanical repairs, while noise-abatement materials protect neighbouring workers and communities from the lengthy noise exposure that such tests entails.
We all looked pretty important in our neon-lemon-yellow high-vis vests. Thanks Mark, Shaye, Kevin, and Jody.
There is a good deal of information on YVR’s noise control program at http://www.yvr.ca/en/community-environment/noise-management.aspx