As an employer, you have a duty under health and safety law to reduce the risk of hearing damage to your employees by controlling exposure to noise.
How do you know if you have a noise problem at work?
The effects of noise surround two main factors: How loud the noise is and for how long people are exposed to it. Consider the following points and if you can answer ‘yes’ to any of them, it may be time to carry out a noise assessment:
- Does the noise interfere with the day-to-day work activities for most of the day?
- Do employees have to raise their voices to carry out a normal conversation?
- Are noisy tools or machinery used for more than half an hour throughout the working day – this could be cooling or kitchen equipment?
- Are employees exposed to noise, which makes it necessary to shout rather than talk to someone two metres away, for more than about two hours per day in total? If so, the noise level here is probably 85 dB or more.
So what steps should you take to protect yourself and your team?
It’s not a legal requirement to carry out a noise risk assessment, but in order for you to ensure you are controlling your employees’ exposure to loud noise, you need to know which employees are at risk, and what that level of risk is.
The aim of the risk assessment is to provide you with the information so that a decision can be made on what needs to be done to ensure the health and safety of employees who are exposed to noise. In some cases measurements of noise may not be necessary, it is about collecting as much information as possible.
Noise regulations place a duty on all employers whose employees are or may be exposed to noise whilst at work. The legislation sets out the following action levels and states what action should be taken at each level by the employer to control noise levels.
Lower Exposure Action Level - 80db(A) (daily or weekly average noise)
Carry out a risk assessment
Make suitable ear protection available
Implement a maintenance programme for the ear protection
Must implement a training programme
Upper Exposure Action Level - 85dB(A) (daily or weekly average noise)
Reduce the noise at source
Implement ear protection zones
Ear protection must be provided and must be used by employees (the use of hearing protection is mandatory if the noise cannot be controlled by any other measure)
Health surveillance provided for employees
The noise risk assessment should contain the following information:
- Who is at risk from noise
- Who may be affected
- An estimate of the employees exposure to noise, compared to the lower and upper exposure action levels
- What needs to be done to comply with the law? This is often referred to as ‘noise control measures’ and may include the provision of hearing protection, such as ear defenders or earplugs. If noise control measures are required then the type should be included in the risk assessment.
- Details of any employees who need to be provided with health surveillance and whether any particular employees are at risk, because of the nature of their work
There is no right or wrong way to complete a risk assessment. The law requires that it is “suitable and sufficient”. The assessment must contain suitable information to be useful to an employee to understand what hazards they may be exposed to when carrying out the task.
Top tips
- Carry out a noise assessment of the work environment.
- Consult with your workforce.
- Combat noise at source – ear protection is the last resort.
- Provide information, instruction and training to employees about noise.
- Consider health surveillance for employees.
- Have various types of hearing protection available for staff to choose.
- Remember that you may need to declare a hearing protection zone.
- Provide everyday information to employees about loud noise, especially music.
For more information visit the HSE website.
Pat Perry is chairman at health and safety consultants at Perry Scott Nash.