Spot Check Measurement October 1, 2020 Ocean Choice International Project No. IHP-0265 St. John’s, NL Dallas Mercer Consulting Inc.

Employer focused. Results driven.

NOISE ASSESSMENT

Ocean Choice International

St. John’s, NL

Report Date: October 1, 2020

Spot Check Measurement October 1, 2020 Ocean Choice International Project No. IHP-0265 St. John’s, NL Dallas Mercer Consulting Inc.

1.0 Introduction

Dallas Mercer Consulting Inc. (DMC) was contracted by Blaine Sullivan, President/COO and Martin Sullivan, CEO of Ocean Choice International (OCI) in St. John’s, NL to conduct Instantaneous (spot check) noise measurements at the offloading facility and cold storage located in Harbour Grace, NL.

The purpose of the report is to emulate the noise levels associated with the Ocean Choice proposed Long Pond Cold Storage facility in South. Harbour Grace located was selected because Harbour Grace Cold Storage located at 123 Water Street in the community of Harbour Grace has been in operation since 1994.

The assessment was conducted by Kim Rose, Industrial Hygiene Technician with DMC on Sep 24, 2020 and overseen by Helen Mersereau, CIH, Senior Industrial Hygienist.

2.0 Noise Exposure and Health Effects Noise is unwanted sound and it is one of the most common occupational health hazards. Work related hearing loss continues to be a critical workplace health and safety issue. Noise-induced hearing loss is fully preventable, but once acquired, hearing loss is permanent and irreversible. Auditory health effects related to noise exposure include acoustic trauma, tinnitus, temporary hearing loss also known as temporary threshold shift, and permanent hearing loss or permanent threshold shift. Noise-induced hearing loss is a cumulative and irreversible process, and both the level of noise, frequency and exposure time over a worker's employment history are important factors.

There are no regulations in and regarding noise emissions. However, in 1997 the Province prepared the document Model Noise Control By-Laws to provide uniformity and guidance on handling noise related problems (NLDEL, 1997). Very few, if any, of the municipalities have adopted the use of the Model Noise Control By-Laws guidance document even though it has been finalized and available for use for over twenty years. Due to the lack of support for the document, guidelines typically used by other municipal and provincial regulatory agencies were reviewed and noise guidelines for the Province of Nova Scotia are included and used for comparison in the following section.

The Province of Nova Scotia uses the following guidelines for acceptable equivalent continuous sound levels (Leq) (NSDOE, 1989): Leq of 65 dBA between 0700 to 1900 hours; Leq of 60 dBA between 1900 to 2300 hours; and Leq of 55 dBA between 2300 to 0700 hours.

3.0 Methodology Noise measurements were conducted in accordance with the A-weighted scale which mimics the sensitivity of the human ear to various frequencies. It is the scale that best predicts noise induced hearing loss. Sound level meters set to the A- weighted scale, slow response, are best used to compare directly to the legislated limits, set by provincial or federal authorities. Noise measurements made with the A-weighted scale are designated dBA. In other words, this weighting scale most closely approximates human hearing.

The measurements were collected with the use of a 3M Sound Examiner (SN SE402IS10556), a Type 2 sound level meter programmed to a slow response and A-weighting network. The sound level meter was factory calibrated within the last year and was field calibrated on site prior to use and verified post use, with the 3M AC-300 calibrator (SN AC300006789).

Spot Check Measurement October 1, 2020 Ocean Choice International Project No. IHP-0265 Harbour Grace, NL Dallas Mercer Consulting Inc.

4.0 Area Monitoring Results The spot check measurements were conducted regarding noise level concerns, generated from vessels and cold storage area, for the general public around the area. Table 1 presents the results of the area measurements collected on the day of the assessment. On the day of measurement, all conditions were determined to be typical of a normal day of operation. The measurements were taken with the industrial hygiene technician standing from various areas of the operation and throughout the community. The spot check measurements were taken five (5) feet from the ground, vertically with the wind screen attached.

During the time of assessment, product from the NF Lynx was being offloaded by Harbour Grace Cold Storage employees. Noise sources that were observed on the vessel and surrounding work area were multiple forklifts, cranes, two (2) transport trucks receiving product for transportation and multiple vehicles traveling to and from the wharf area.

It was communicated by Fred Osbourne, Engineer with the NF Lynx that the equipment running at the time of the assessment consisted of the following:  Generator  Refrigeration Compressor  Air Start Compressor  Domestic Refrigerator  Middle Crane

On the day of the assessment, it was a cloudy day, with wind (km/h) of 28W and wind gust (km/h) of 54. Once the industrial hygiene technician departed the cold storage area to retrieve spot check measurements from surrounding areas of the community, noise generated items that were observed were trees and public transport.

It was communicated that the height of the Harbour Grace Cold Storage facility is maximum 32-34 feet. The proposed facility in Long Pond will be 43 feet high. Facilities in this area can act as a sound barrier which will decrease sound levels to nearby areas.

Table 1 – Area Noise Measurements (September 24, 2020) Sound Level Measurement Area (dBA) Wharf Area – Pedestrian Walkway 71.5 Covid-19 Pre-Screening Trailer 67.7 Entrance to Parking Lot – Main Road (public vehicles passing) 60.0 200 Meters away from work site (public vehicles passing) 53.5 300 Meters away from work site (public vehicles passing) 52.1 400 Meters away from work site (public vehicles passing) 53.9

5.0 Conclusions Noise levels collected on the wharf area and surrounding community during the assessment were below the Workplace 8- hour TLV of 85 dBA. Most were also below the guideline of 65 dBA during the daytime hours. Only the pedestrian walkway on the wharf was above the 65 dBA guideline. It was observed and documented that once measurements were taken of the actual work site and in the surrounding community, noise levels were well below the TLV of 85dBA and all but one were below 65 dBA. It was observed that during the taking of the measurements, noise generated from the offloading procedure did not transfer into the community.

Spot Check Measurement October 1, 2020 Ocean Choice International Project No. IHP-0265 Harbour Grace, NL Dallas Mercer Consulting Inc.

Based on drawings provided by OCI, the orientation of the building or activities on a site can affect the impact of noise. The building or activity area for the Long Pond facility will be oriented towards the commercial side of Terminal Road in . The location of the building will provide noise protection as the site plan for Long Pond has a wharf, offloading and the cold storage facility facing the commercial side. The orientation of the buildings and activity on the proposed Long Pond site appears to be oriented in such a way as to reduce noise impacts.

6.0 Recommendations Based on the findings of this assessment, including but not limited to, noise measurements and observations at the time of the monitoring, no actions are required, as the community measurements were below the 65 dBA guideline. This report was prepared by Dallas Mercer Consulting Inc. (DMC) for the sole benefit of the client. DMC accepts no liability and/or damages incurred by any third party that uses information obtained from this report. The findings contained in this report are based upon conditions as they were observed at the time of the assessment. No assurance is made regarding changes in conditions subsequent to the time of the assessment.

If you have any questions regarding this report, I can be contacted via phone at (709) 364-3900, ext. 101, or by email at [email protected].

Kind Regards,

Written by: Helen Mersereau, MHSc, CIH, ROH, CRSP Senior Industrial Hygienist