Free 'Noise at Work' Breakfast Seminar!

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 come into effect on the 6th April 2006 - How will this effect YOUR business? Come listen to our FREE breakfast seminar

Excessive exposure to workplace noise can prove highly damaging, both to individuals and organisations.

The health of those exposed is often damaged beyond repair, leading to poor performance, low morale, stress, social exclusion, violence and, very occasionally, even suicide.

The cost to the organisation can be just as severe.

It is widely recognised that exposure to high levels of noise reduces productivity and has a negative effect on quality.

Leaving aside the moral issue, exposure to excessive noise can also have a highly unfavourable effect on your 'bottom line'.

Ultimately the financial cost of not protecting your staff can run to millions of pounds.

In one recent three-year period the Ford Motor Company paid out over GBP6M in compensation for noise induced hearing loss to employees from just one UK plant.

How then can you control exposure to noise in your organisation while at the same time minimise costs and maintain productivity? Before investing in a noise assessment, or an expensive engineering control method such as enclosure, consider first if there is indeed a noise problem in your workplace.

As a simple guide wherever people have to shout in order to converse with someone no more than two metres away it would be prudent to carry out a formal noise assessment.

The current actions levels for exposure to noise at work are 85 dB(A) and 90dB(A), but these change on the 6th April 2006.

The new lower action level will be reduced to just 80dB(A), the new upper action level will be 85dB(A).

Due to the vagaries of the logarithmic decibel scale the new figures equate to little more than 25% of the old values and represent a dramatic reduction in permitted exposure levels.

Peak levels will also carry greater significance.

Once the extent of the noise issue in your particular organisation has been determined you will be in a position to consider the various available control options.

Eliminating the source of noise would be the preferred, but not usually the most practical, option.

Substitution of the noise source, for example by replacing an old piston type compressor with a modern vane type, can dramatically reduce noise in the workplace.

As an additional benefit modern equipment is likely to prove more reliable and use less energy than older equipment.

Allied to this process is the adoption of a 'buy quiet' policy, which actively considers noise output when purchasing new equipment in the same vein as energy consumption or productivity.

Information on noise output is available from most reputable equipment manufacturers.

Engineering controls are yet another useful tool in the quest to reduce noise in the workplace.

Unfortunately a great deal of ill-informed advice by so-called 'experts' has significantly undermined the worth of effective engineering controls in the minds of many employers.

Well-designed and appropriate engineering control measures can, at best, prove both highly effective and cost efficient.

At worst they can literally cost GBP100,000s and result in a negligible reduction is noise exposure to the workforce.

Information and training can increase noise awareness in the workplace and equip personnel with the skills to actively manage both the production of noise and their exposure to it.

In addition consultation with well-informed staff can help to identify noise issues and enable the formulation and introduction of effective noise control measures.

Ear protection, in the form of muffs or plugs, provide the last line of defence in terms of hearing conservation.

The selection of suitable equipment is a complex process based on a number of variables such as the energy and frequency of the noise, the duration of exposure, the working environment, the need for compatibility with other types of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and the shape/size/personal preference of the wearer.

One significant addition in the new regulations is a specific requirement to undertake health surveillance.

The practical application of this is there wherever there is a designated "hearing protection zone" the employer is now required to undertake health surveillance including audiometric testing.

Cope Safety Management are holding a free breakfast seminar in Nottingham on 30th March 2006.

Our speaker Scott Butters (MSC, CMIOSH, MRIPH Dip2.OSH) will give an insight into how these changes will effect your business and what practical steps you can take to protect both your business and your employees.

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