Legal Limits for Peak Levels in the Environment due to Industrial Activities

The present development of new environmental legislation in The Netherlands gave rise to the question what legal limits should be used for the assessment of peak levels due to industrial activities. The introduction of (new) legal limits for peak levels could be considered for different reasons such as preventing annoyance in a general sense, startling effects by sudden sounds and/or sleep disturbance. The approach of different countries regarding these kind of peak levels was inventarized and mutually compared. In this respect the character of peak levels appear to play an important role. In combination with literature about the results of dose-effect studies regarding peak levels a proposal about possible assessment of peak levels from industry was derived.