How can hearing loss at work be prevented?

Despite the regulations outlining employers' specific responsibilities, it is also the responsibility of all workers to ensure that they take necessary precautions to protect their hearing from noise-induced hearing loss.

• Advise your employer to undergo a full noise assessment – contact the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for more information
• Be aware what noises can be damaging to your hearing, and wear ear protection around them
• Use your ear protection in all designated areas - there will be signs to show you
• Make sure you fully understand how to use and care for your ear protection
• Tell your employer if there is a fault with either your own ear protection or the noise control equipment
• Suggest to your employer ways of further reducing noise levels in the workplace

Remember: Do not remove ear protection in an Ear Protection Zone even for short periods. Removing protectors in an environment with 107 dBA for just one minute would give a noise dose equal to the recommended level of 80 dBA for eight hours.

What regulations are there for work noise?

It was estimated in research by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in 1997-98 that a total of 509,000 people in Great Britain were suffering from some level of hearing difficulty as a result of exposure to noise at work. Industries with the highest number of new cases of work-related deafness are extraction, energy and water supply, manufacturing and construction.

According to the HSE, more than one million people are exposed to potentially damaging noise levels in their workplace. The Control of Noise at Work regulations 2005 were put in place to protect these people by obliging employers to take specific action when noise reaches the set ‘Action Levels’ of 80 dBA and 85 dBA. These levels represent a worker’s average noise exposure during an eight hour working period. These specific requirements are in addition to the general duty on employers to minimise risks to employees.

The Noise at Work regulations 2005 oblige employers to take specific action when noise reaches the set ‘Action Levels’ of 80 dBA and 85 dBA. These levels represent a worker’s average noise exposure during an eight hour working period and take into account any noise reduction workers gain from wearing ear protection. These specific requirements are in addition to the general duty on employers to minimise risks to employees.

Work noise levels vary greatly. Average peak noise levels by occupation include:

If noise levels reach an Action Level threshold, employers have a specific duty to act to protect their employees' hearing.

Daily noise levels reach an average of 80 dBA

If daily noise levels reach an average of 80 dBA, your employer must:

• tell you about the risks, and explain how you can protect your ears
• provide ear protectors - otherwise known as 'ear defenders' - for you to use and keep them in good working order.
• Make every effort to reduce noise levels as far as possible, by modifying or replacing equipment and maintaining it regularly. Noisy machinery may need to be enclosed so that the sound is muffled.

Daily noise levels reach an average of 85 dBA

If you must work somewhere with daily noise levels at or above 85 dBA, the law makes the wearing of ear protectors compulsory. So, in addition to the actions listed above, your employer must make sure that you wear them - if they don’t, they can be taken to court. Average daily or weekly exposure levels, after taking into account any hearing protection, should never be above 87 dBA and sound levels must never peak above 140 dBA at someone’s ear.

Your employer must also clearly mark ear protection zones – areas where you must wear ear protection.

However, the regulations also require employers to ensure noise levels are minimised before resorting to ear protection, such as installing sound reduction equipment and taking noise levels into account when ordering new machinery.

When it is suspected that noise in the workplace is a problem, a risk assessment needs to be carried out to estimate employees’ exposure and work out what needs to be done to comply with the law. The employer must ensure that this is drawn up by someone who is competent to carry out the task and is based on advice and information from people who are competent to provide it.

All industry sectors in Great Britain, except for the music and entertainment sectors, are covered by the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, where they came into force on 6th April 2008.

Where can I get more information about noise regulations?

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publishes a number of books and free leaflets about noise at work. For more information, see the HSE website www.hse.gov.uk/noise or call HSE Books on 01787 881 165.

For further information and answers to specific questions please contact the HSE Infoline. If they cannot answer your query they will put you in touch with somebody who can. You can contact them by phone: 0845 345 0055 or email: .