Cirrus Instruments on Parade at London Notting Hill Carnival
November 3rd 2008

Instruments from Cirrus Research, the UK company which specialises in the design and development of noise measurement equipment for health and safety applications, were recently used in the noise monitoring of this years Notting Hill Carnival, London.

Soundguard Acoustics used the Cirrus instruments to undertake the first Control of Noise at Work risk assessment on behalf of London Notting Hill Carnival Ltd (LNHCL).

London Notting Hill Carnival has been running since 1965 and now in its 44th year, has grown to become the largest street festival in Europe. The carnival provides an annual celebration of music, good times and dancing that attracts over 1.5 million people. Stacks of battered speakers and amplifiers have become one of the quintessential images of the multicultural celebration, the noise levels of which is possibly only outdone by the parade route and the thousands of masquerades.

Soundguard Acoustics Ltd used 40 Cirrus CR:110A doseBadges, 5 RC:110A Dosebadge readers, and 5 Cirrus Type 1 integrating Sound Level Meters to undertake the assessment over the Carnival weekend, to effectively determine the levels of noise protection required by Carnival employees.

Rob Shaddick, Director of Soundguard Acoustics Ltd commented:

‘Soundguard already uses Cirrus equipment and we were confident in hiring further Cirrus equipment to fulfil this contract, Cirrus equipment has always been reliable and benefits from simplicity in operation, something that we felt to be important in the chaos of carnival! We were also pleased to have the support of Keith Turner of TAWSA Health and Safety Ltd who helped with the provision of Cirrus equipment and consultancy services during the Notting Hill weekend.’

Working with the LNHCL, the London Metropolitan Police and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Soundguard Acoustics Ltd Consultants formulated a plan that would reveal the likely noise dose of carnival marshals, judges, security and traders as well as the level of noise at policing locations, first aid points, and entry points to the carnival route. In addition the sound level outputs of the passing floats, background levels, noise mapping and a complete assessment of all 40 static sound systems was undertaken.

After the Carnival, Rob Shaddick reported:

"The information that Cirrus doseBadges and Cirrus Sound Level Meters has provided us has been terrific, my consultants were happy and confident in using the equipment and the information will certainly help us in working with LNHCL to lower noise exposure risk to Carnival employees. Our approach from the outset has been to maintain the vibrant and noisy tradition of carnival, whilst reducing the noise exposure risk of those working within Carnival. This project was always going to be a challenge, but the Cirrus equipment has helped us to achieve this and has been fundamental in the planning of next years London Notting Hill Carnival."

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