Assessment of levels of occupational exposure to workers in radiofrequency fields of two television stations in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

A survey of the radiofrequency (RF) radiation was undertaken within the premises of two television (TV) stations, TVA and TVB, in Accra, Ghana. The primary objective of this study was to determine the level of RF exposure to workers in the TV stations. A spectrum analyser, a bi-conical antenna (30-300 MHz) and a log-periodic antenna (200 MHz-2.0 GHz) were used. Results obtained indicated that the wideband electric field strength levels recorded in this work vary between 0.006 and 58.5 V m(-1) at TVA and between 0.007 and 28.5 V m(-1) at TVB. Compared with the results from TVB, TVA recorded relatively higher values in the 30-400 MHz range, whereas TVB produced relatively higher values in the 400 MHz-1.7 GHz range. Generally, results obtained were found to be below the occupational reference levels of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, but at some locations, the field intensity was 4.3 times higher than the reference levels for the general public.