Toulouse: when air pollution poisons the life of the Purpan hospital
When planes take off from Toulouse-Blagnac airport, the noise exceeds the health standards of decibels at the hospital. Day and night.
Quiet, hospital! You all know this sign of the Highway Code, supposed to protect the ears of patients (and caregivers) from noise. But when the decibels come from the sky, prevention is no longer important. And the roar of aircraft engines taking off from Toulouse-Blagnac airport is a noise pollution that is difficult to put on hold above the Purpan hospital. According to the latest report from BruitParif, which relies on a device of 6 sensors, the situation is even more than worrying.
The decibels are exploding
“Despite reduced traffic, the average annual noise levels related to air traffic were higher than 45 decibels (dB) recommended by the World Health Organization (MS) on all the measurement sites. And even higher than 40 dB (A) at night,” explains the study. As for the Purpan University Hospital site alone, the sensors recorded an overrun of the regulatory threshold of 55 dB for the take-off configuration. For Catherine Stolbowsky Abile-Gal, the president of the association “Pas d’avion à l’Hôpital Pupan”, it is no longer possible to accept this situation. “The noise begins with the resumption of air traffic at six o’clock in the morning, but there is not a night without planes flying over our heads”, she protests. It is on twitter that this citizen undertakes to document aerial rotations. “No later than last night, it was a Ryanair plane, no doubt, which took off at 1:15 a.m.,” she notes. As a bonus, the whims of Autan, which have been blowing more frequently lately, impose this north-south air corridor for planes forced to take off into the wind. On the ground, the awakening can be brutal. As this patient testifies. “I am appalled. Suffering from an orphan disease, systemic Lupus, I am regularly hospitalized in internal medicine at Purpan… And that’s it… Airplane hell. A shame ! We fall asleep and are automatically awakened by this infernal noise”.
“We need a strong response”
However, it is difficult to find a solution, unless the airport is moved… assures Catherine Stolbowsky Abile-Gal. There is also the possibility of using the more distant Airbus runway which could protect more people from air pollution”. His association has already invited three deputies from Haute-Garonne to come and see the problem on the spot and the CGT union of the CHU has seized the health and safety committee of the hospital establishment. Catherine Stolbowsky Abile-Gal, now assists “a strong” of the prefecture responsible for establishing the response plan for the prevention of noise in the environment (PPBE) of the Toulouse-Blagnac aerodrome. But she may be disappointed. Last Friday, the prefect Etienne Guyot announced that he had signed, on October 4, the decree approving the PPBE for the period 2018-2023 (sic). It was time ! Not sure that the patients of the Purpan hospital will find their account there.