Noise pollution is hardly an issue that can be described as unheard of in Malta. The summer months bring loud complaints from residents suffering a barrage of festa petards, which can go on week after week, depending on the locality.
Add to this some drivers’ habit of hooting at every street corner instead of slowing down to honour right of way for approaching vehicles, as street signage indicates. Regulations on vehicles can be rather contradictory on this, leaving it up to wardens or police officers to prohibit strident or objectionable use of the horn.
The onslaught of loud music at many public events, the sound of hunters’ guns blasting away early mornings and late night car-racing on roads such as the Mosta to Mġarr stretch, go mostly unchallenged.
Then there are the tape-recorded calls of vendors of products such as doughnuts and lampuki, which according to law are all illegal if it transpires they cause annoyance in an inhabited place.
The list grows with street vendors, notably the gas truck or the bread man, who regularly blast their air-horns, (also illegal) to tell the world they have arrived. Sounding one’s car horn has replaced ringing the doorbell and add to the cacophony.
Then there are the infamous neighbours who love to party on into the night, often matched by reluctance on the part of the police to concern themselves over lost sleep of the long-suffering residents.
People exposed to excessive noise at their workplace become irritable and less motivated in their jobs. After air pollution, traffic noise is the second largest problem affecting health in the EU.
It is a problem which features high on our list of environmental pressures. Unlike other forms of pollution, samples cannot be taken for investigation in a laboratory. Making noise which disturbs or disrupts the lives of others does not carry the same weight as other forms of pollution. Polluting the air, soil, water is an environmental crime yet noise pollution with all its ill-effects is legally still a mere contravention.
“This is the first thing we have to address,” according to Simone Borg, who spoke on local laws and noise management at a forum held last month by the Noise Abatement Society of Malta (NASoM).
Head of the University’s department of environmental law, Dr Borg said that although the present law is very vague, narrowing it to decibel measurements could present difficulties. Even as things stand at present there is often enough evidence to back a case for civil damages. Magistrates may not feel the need to refer to decibel tables if it is plain that people are unable to sleep at night because of noise disturbance.
Lack of coherence between noise regulators – Transport Malta, Building Regulations Office, Occupational Health and Safety Authority, Trading Licence Unit, Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Police – and the many ministries involved, could be solved by creating a framework that establishes a network to avoid loopholes and conflicts in law between all entities involved.
The framework intended to control and prevent neighbourhood noise was published in December 2012, after two years of extensive discussion by NASoM with stakeholders involved in various sectors, the party in government, a representative of the Opposition and the public.
The Environment Protection Act of 2001 defines noise as a type of energy which if introduced by man into the environment, causing hazard to human health or ecosystems, constitutes pollution and should be regulated by law (see extract from Act below).
John Fenech, representing the society, underlines the importance of understanding that noise is a hazard to health and wellbeing. Sleep disturbance is a big problem as rest is very important for health.
An official from public health, Dr J. P. Cauchi, spoke on the increasing magnitude and severity of noise pollution. Noise below 70 decibels is not harmful to the auditory system.
However, at night, noise levels of 45 dB measured one metre from a house façade, including that of light traffic, can result in poor sleep without rest, leading to the heart rate and blood pressure remaining higher than normal. It is only during restful sleep that healing can take place.
After air pollution, traffic noise is the second largest problem affecting health in the EU
A Danish study in 2011 found that, during waking hours, for every 10 decibels increase in noise the risk of stroke goes up by 14 per cent. Results released last month on a study carried out at Heathrow Airport appears to back up these findings.
Therefore, after giving the dust a chance to settle, the noise and prevention control framework regulations were proposed once again to the new administration.
However, during last month’s forum, society chairman John Fenech expressed disappointment at reluctance on the government’s part to adopt an existing framework without having another look at it.
The framework contemplates setting up a call centre. This is to facilitate complaints investigation in real-time and a complaints tracing system, thus establishing accountability – an expensive solution but one that would create jobs.
Environment Minister Leo Brincat referred to this and other issues which have now got caught up in the transitory time ahead of merging the Malta Resources Authority with the environment authority, which will soon no longer fall under the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.
Ruling out the Singapore model, where different decibel levels were applied in different zones for schools, hospitals, residences and so forth… he pledged a new direction for enforcement, especially for repeat offenders.
“If we legislate, we intend to address the gaps,” he added, noting that people were fed up of having laws on paper which are not so easily implemented.
Also mentioned were the noise created by supermarkets and similar establishments after hours. More noise specialists and consultants were needed. Mr Brincat referred to scrapyards as a weakness in the system, criticising the relationship between some operators with Mepa as “too cosy”.
Charles Buhagiar, chairman of the Building Industry Consultative Council, observed that a guidance document on measures to be taken at the building stage to reduce the transmission of sound are “not good enough” and legislation is needed. The council is working with the building regulations office to control noise in buildings and on building sites.
Another concern was the problem of noisy neighbours in the vicinity, which could reduce property values.
The Noise Abatement Society’s website (www.nasomalta.org) provides a forum for complaints which will be passed on to the relevant authorities.
When making a report at a police station over a noise disturbance, complainants should remain objective, supply clear information, and most importantly, check that they are given the file number of their complaint so they can follow it up and see what steps were taken.
Defining noise
‘Energy’ includes all types of radiation forming part of the electromagnetic energy spectrum, or resulting from a nuclear source, as well as all vibrations and noise.
‘Pollution’ means the direct or indirect introduction by man into the environment of substances, organism, genetic material or energy that cause or are likely to cause hazard to human health, harm to living resources or to ecosystems, or damage to amenities, or interfere with other legitimate uses of the environment.
(Extract from ACT XX of 2001, Environment Protection Act, Part 1 – Interpretation)