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Noise at Work
Introduction
What is this paper about?
Loud noise at work can damage your hearing. This paper is to help you as an
employer understand what you need to do under the Control of Noise at Work
Regulations 2005 (the Noise Regulations 2005) and how you can protect your
employees from noise. It will also be useful to employees and safety
representatives.
This paper tells you about:
n how loud noise can damage hearing;
n what you have to do under the Noise Regulations 2005 to protect the hearing
of your workers;
n how to assess and control noise at work;
n choosing quieter equipment and machinery;
n different types of hearing protection;
n when to inform and consult your workers;
n health surveillance.
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
The Noise Regulations 2005 require employers to prevent or reduce risks to health
and safety from exposure to noise at work. Employees have duties under the
Regulations too.
The Regulations require you as an employer to:
n assess the risks to your employees from noise at work;
n take action to reduce the noise exposure that produces those risks;
n provide your employees with hearing protection if you cannot reduce the noise
exposure enough by using other methods;
n make sure the legal limits on noise exposure are not exceeded;
n provide your employees with information, instruction and training;
n carry out health surveillance where there is a risk to health.
The Regulations do not apply to:
n members of the public exposed to noise from their non-work activities, or
making an informed choice to go to noisy places;
n low-level noise which is a nuisance but causes no risk of hearing damage.
Health and Safety
Executive
Noise at work
Guidance for employers on the Control of Noise at Work
Regulations 2005
Health and Safety
Executive
Employers in the music and entertainment sectors have until 6 April 2008 to
comply with the Noise Regulations 2005. Meanwhile they must continue to comply
with the Noise at Work Regulations 1989, which the 2005 Regulations replace for
all other workplaces.
Do you have a noise problem at work?
This will depend on how loud the noise is and how long people are exposed to it.
As a simple guide you will probably need to do something about the noise if any of
the following apply:
n Is the noise intrusive – like a busy street, a vacuum cleaner or a crowded
restaurant – for most of the working day?
n Do your employees have to raise their voices to carry out a normal
conversation when about 2 m apart for at least part of the day?
n Do your employees use noisy powered tools or machinery for more than half
an hour each day?
n Do you work in a noisy industry, eg construction, demolition or road repair;
woodworking; plastics processing; engineering; textile manufacture; general
fabrication; forging, pressing or stamping; paper or board making; canning or
bottling; foundries?
n Are there noises due to impacts (such as hammering, drop forging, pneumatic
impact tools etc), explosive sources such as cartridge-operated tools or
detonators, or guns?
Noise can also be a safety hazard at work, interfering with communication and
making warnings harder to hear.
How is noise measured?
Noise is measured in decibels (dB). An ‘A-weighting’ sometimes written as
‘dB(A)’, is used to measure average noise levels, and a ‘C-weighting’ or
‘dB(C)’, to measure peak, impact or explosive noises.
You might just notice a 3 dB change in noise level, because of the way our
ears work. Yet every 3 dB doubles the noise, so what might seem like small
differences in the numbers can be quite significant.
Some examples of typical noise levels are shown in Figure 1. This shows that a
quiet office may range from 40-50 dB, while a road drill can produce 100-110 dB.
The health effects of noise at work
Hearing loss
Noise at work can cause hearing loss which can be temporary or permanent.
People often experience temporary deafness after leaving a noisy place. Although
hearing recovers within a few hours, this should not be ignored. It is a sign that if
you continue to be exposed to the noise your hearing could be permanently
damaged. Permanent hearing damage can be caused immediately by sudden,
extremely loud, explosive noises, eg from guns or cartridge-operated machines.
But hearing loss is usually gradual because of prolonged exposure to noise. It may
only be when damage caused by noise over the years combines with hearing loss
due to ageing that people realise how deaf they have become. This may mean
their family complains about the television being too loud, they cannot keep up with
conversations in a group, or they have trouble using the telephone. Eventually
everything becomes muffled and people find it difficult to catch sounds like ‘t’, ‘d’
and ‘s’, so they confuse similar words.
Hearing loss is not the only problem. People may develop tinnitus (ringing,
whistling, buzzing or humming in the ears), a distressing condition which can lead
to disturbed sleep.
Remember: Young people can be damaged as easily as the old
Noise levels
What are the action levels and limit values?
The Noise Regulations require you to take specific action at certain action values.
These relate to:
n the levels of exposure to noise of your employees averaged over a working day
or week; and
n the maximum noise (peak sound pressure) to which employees are exposed in
a working day.
The values are:
n lower exposure action values:
– daily or weekly exposure of 80 dB;
– peak sound pressure of 135 dB;
n upper exposure action values:
– daily or weekly exposure of 85 dB;
– peak sound pressure of 137 dB.
The actions you need to take are described in the rest of this leaflet. Figure 2 will
also help you decide what you need to do.
There are also levels of noise exposure which must not be exceeded:
n exposure limit values:
– daily or weekly exposure of 87 dB;
– peak sound pressure of 140 dB.
These exposure limit values take account of any reduction in exposure provided by
hearing protection.
Risk assessment
How do I get started?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions in the section ‘Do you have a noise
problem’, you will need to assess the risks to decide whether any further action is
needed, and plan how you will do it.
The aim of the risk assessment is to help you decide what you need to do to
ensure the health and safety of your employees who are exposed to noise. It is
more than just taking measurements of noise – sometimes measurements may not
even be necessary. Your risk assessment should:
n identify where there may be a risk from noise and who is likely to be affected;
n contain a reliable estimate of your employees’ exposures, and compare the
exposure with the exposure action values and limit values;
n identify what you need to do to comply with the law, eg whether noise-control
measures or hearing protection are needed, and, if so, where and what type;
and
n identify any employees who need to be provided with health surveillance and
whether any are at particular risk.
It is essential that you can show that your estimate of employees’ exposure is
representative of the work that they do. It needs to take account of:
n the work they do or are likely to do;
n the ways in which they do the work; and
n how it might vary from one day to the next.
Your estimate must be based on reliable information, eg measurements in your
own workplace, information from other workplaces similar to yours, or data from
suppliers of machinery.
You must record the findings of your risk assessment. You need to record in an
action plan anything you identify as being necessary to comply with the law, setting
out what you have done and what you are going to do, with a timetable and saying
who will be responsible for the work.
Review your risk assessment if circumstances in your workplace change and affect
noise exposures. Also review it regularly to make sure that you continue to do all
that is reasonably practicable to control the noise risks. Even if it appears that
nothing has changed, you should not leave it for more than about two years
without checking whether a review is needed.
Competence
You need to make sure that your risk assessment:
n has been drawn up by someone who is competent to carry out the task;
and
n is based on advice and information from people who are competent to
provide it.
You, or people within your company, may well be competent in some or all
areas. You may, however, choose or need to go to external consultants.
Control the risks
How do I control the risks from noise?
The purpose of the Noise Regulations 2005 is to make sure that people do not
suffer damage to their hearing – so controlling noise risks and noise exposure
should be where you concentrate your efforts.
Wherever there is noise at work you should be looking for alternative processes,
equipment and/or working methods which would make the work quieter or mean
people are exposed for shorter times. You should also be keeping up with what is
good practice or the standard for noise control within your industry.
Where there are things you can do to reduce risks from noise, that are reasonably
practicable, they should be done. However, where noise exposures are below the
lower exposure action values, risks are low and so you would only be expected to
take actions which are relatively inexpensive and simple to carry out.
Where your assessment shows that your employees are likely to be exposed at or
above the upper exposure action values, you must put in place a planned
programme of noise control.
How do I use the information from my risk assessment?
Your risk assessment will have produced information on the risks and an action
plan for controlling noise. Use this information to:
n tackle the immediate risk, eg by providing hearing protection;
n identify what is possible to control noise, how much reduction could be
achieved and what is reasonably practicable;
n establish priorities for action and a timetable (eg consider where there could be
immediate benefits, what changes may need to be phased in over a longer
period of time and the number of people exposed to the noise in each case);
n assign responsibilities to people to deliver the various parts of the plan;
n ensure the work on noise control is carried out;
n check that what you have done has worked.
How do I reduce noise?
There are many ways of reducing noise and noise exposure – often a combination
of methods works best. First think about how to remove the loud noise altogether.
If that is not possible, do all you can to control the noise at source, consider
redesigning the workplace and reorganising working patterns. Take measures to
protect individual workers if you need to. Consider the following:
n Use a different, quieter process or quieter equipment, eg:
– can you do the work in some other quieter way?
– can you replace whatever is causing the noise with something that is less
noisy?
– introduce a low-noise purchasing policy for machinery and equipment.
n Introduce engineering controls:
– avoid metal-on-metal impacts, eg line chutes with abrasion-resistant rubber,
and reduce drop heights;
– vibrating machine panels can be a source of noise – add material to reduce
vibration (‘damping’);
– isolate vibrating machinery or components from their surroundings, eg with
anti-vibration mounts or flexible couplings;
– fit silencers to air exhausts and blowing nozzles.
n Modify the paths by which the noise travels through the air to the people
exposed, eg:
– erect enclosures around machines to reduce the amount of noise emitted
into the workplace or environment;
– use barriers and screens to block the direct path of sound;
– position noise sources further away from workers.
n Design and lay out the workplace for low noise emission, eg:
– use absorptive materials within the building to reduce reflected sound, eg
open cell foam or mineral wool;
– keep noisy machinery and processes away from quieter areas;
– design the workflow to keep noisy machinery out of areas where people
spend most of their time.
n Limit the time spent in noisy areas – every halving of the time spent in a noisy
area will reduce noise exposure by 3 dB.
Proper and regular maintenance of machinery and equipment is essential as
it will deteriorate with age and can become noisier. Listen out for changes in
noise levels – it may be time to replace worn or faulty parts.
A low-noise purchasing policy
How can I choose quieter equipment and machinery?
Introducing a positive purchasing and hire policy can be the most cost-effective
long-term measure you take to reduce noise at work. Choosing quieter equipment
and machinery, whether it is bought or hired, from the start can save you the cost
of introducing noise-reduction measures once it is installed or in use. You could do
the following:
n Consider at an early stage how new or replacement machinery could reduce
noise levels in the workplace – set a target to reduce the noise levels if
possible.
n Ensure you specify a realistic noise output level for all new machinery, and
check that tenderers and suppliers are aware of their legal duties.
n Ask the suppliers about the likely noise levels under the particular conditions in
which you will operate the machinery, as well as under standard test conditions.
If you ask the same question to all suppliers you can compare information.
Noise output data will only ever be a guide as many factors affect the noise
levels experienced by employees, but it will help you to buy quieter machines.
n Try to purchase or hire only from suppliers who can demonstrate a low-noise
design, with noise control as a standard part of the machine, not as a costly
optional extra.
n Keep a record of your decision process, to help show that you have met your
legal duties to reduce workplace noise.
Remember to ask your supplier about:
n installation arrangements, eg methods of mounting and location, to ensure
machinery operates as quietly as possible;
n anything about how the machine operates which could affect the noise it
produces;
n maintenance arrangements to ensure the machine continues to operate
properly and does not get louder over time.
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Supply of
Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 (as amended) a supplier of machinery
must do the following:
n Provide equipment that is safe and without risk to health, with the
necessary information to ensure it will be used to meet those aims.
n Design and construct machinery so that the noise produced is as low as
possible.
n Provide information about the noise the machine produces under actual
working conditions.
New machinery must be provided with:
n a ‘Declaration of Conformity’ to show that it meets essential health and
safety requirements;
n a ‘CE’ mark;
n instructions for safe installation, use and maintenance;
n information on the risks from noise at workstations, including:
– A-weighted sound pressure level, where this exceeds 70 dB;
– maximum C-weighted instantaneous sound pressure level, where this
exceeds 130 dB;
– sound power (a measure of the total sound energy) emitted by the
machinery, where the A-weighted sound pressure level exceeds 85 dB;
n a description of the operating conditions under which the noise tests were
carried out.
Hearing protection
When should hearing protection be used?
Hearing protection should be issued to employees:
n where extra protection is needed above what can been achieved using noise
control;
n as a short-term measure while other methods of controlling noise are being
developed.
You should not use hearing protection as an alternative to controlling noise by
technical and organisational means.
Give HSE's pocket card INDG363(rev1)
This page was created on: 10/04/2007
Last modified: 10/04/2007
