New noise regulations
August 1st 2005

Regulations to protect workforces from excessive noise within the workplace have been in place for the U.K. since 1989. The E.U Physical Agents (Noise) Directive was published on 15 February 2003, which will mean changes to many workplaces around the U.K. The implementation of this directive into UK law is currently underway and the UK regulations will be published around October 2005 under the title; ‘The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005’. The Levels for Action The regulations have been changed to ensure all workers are protected against hearing damage, which is not the case with the current action levels.

Approximately 14% of the working population are susceptible to hearing damage under the action levels of the 1989 regulations. Therefore the action levels have been reduced by 5dB and new peak action levels introduced. The new Lower Exposure Action Value (LEAV) will be 80dB for a daily dose (LAEP,d) and 135dB (LCpeak) for impulsive noises, such as pressing operations. The Upper Exposure Action Value (UEAV) will change to 85dB for a daily dose (LAEP,d) and 137dB for impulsive noises (LCpeak). The reduction of 5dB does not seem significant, however it will mean that an additional 1.1 million people in the UK currently exposed to between 80 and 85dB will now need to be protected from noise risk.

The new regulations will also introduce a new concept called the ‘Exposure Limit Value’ (EPV) of 87dB LAEP,d and 140dB LCpeak. This is the maximum permitted noise level at the ear taking account of hearing protection. It may be an issue for individuals exposed to particularly high levels of noise, however it should not be seen as a minimum acceptable level, rather to highlight where action needs to be taken as a priority to reduce noise exposure. If this is the case it will be necessary to calculate the effectiveness of hearing protection by taking measurements.

Assess and Control There is a new emphasis with the new regulations, in that noise risk must be assessed and suitable controls implemented. As the title suggests it will be much more important under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 to control the risk of noise exposure.

It will no longer be acceptable to provide hearing protection without performing any noise exposure reduction measures.

Initially a risk assessment will need to be conducted to assess the risk to health and safety from the noise.

The results will enable a program of work to be established which will isolate the actions required to reduce the noise risk.

• The risk assessment itself can be simple: • Are people exposed to noise? • Do I have machines, tools and processes that are obviously noisy? • Are control measures in place? A measurement will only be required for a risk assessment if the levels are likely to exceed 85dB. Once the risk is assessed, controls will need to be implemented where necessary to reduce noise as low as practicably possible. Examples of these include: • Change work patterns to reduce exposure • Perform technical measures (dampening, enclosures etc) • Train employees for correct use of equipment to reduce noise risk • Maintenance of machinery • Change the design of work areas • Purchase quiet machinery as a company policy In an ideal world the noise exposure of all employees will be reduced to below the LEAV. However, this will not be possible in many cases because the balance of costs to benefits for the above control measures will not be feasible. Hence, for employees with any residual risk from noise, hearing protection should be provided.

Health Surveillance Health surveillance will need to be established with hearing checks for any employees over the UEAV and any susceptible employees below that. Although this may seem costly it is considered essential to ensure that the control measures are working and if effective control measures are introduced the number of employees requiring hearing protection will be reduced.

Expert Intermediaries The term ‘competent person’ will not be mentioned in the new regulations. Instead, an employer can perform aspects of noise at work for which they are able. For the aspects that they are unsure of they should rely on external expert help, coining the phrase ‘expert intermediaries’ by the HSE.

As opposed to the current noise regulations where emphasis is placed on PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), risk assessment and control mechanisms are the keys to the new noise at work directive.

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