Beda February 2008

Beda May

BEDA COMMENT

Noise at Work law

Operational, BEda comment, May 2007, COMMENTS

As the countdown begins to the new Noise at Work law (which comes into force for the entertainment industry on 6 April, 2008) it is perhaps useful to re-iterate what is needed to comply with the new legislation. Firstly, and most importantly, it is crucial that all operators make sure they have carried out a noise risk assessment. This is to ensure that all that can be practically done, is being achieved as far as noise reduction goes. Getting a risk assessment done doesn’t come hand in hand with an immediate need to spend large amounts of money making changes to a premises, and the legislation doesn’t expect that. What the legislation does expect is that operators do what is practically possible to ensure that employees are adequately protected in the work environment.

The law says it is vital that all premises carry out a noise risk assessment if the noise level reaches the Lower Exposure Action Value of 80dB. This will of course be the case for the vast majority of operators in the late night sector. It is important to note that these regulations relate solely to employees and not to those customers visiting venues. The risk assessment according to the Sound Advice guidance, which has been written by the HSE, suggests this assessment needs to be carried out by ‘a competent person’ who should suggest ‘cost effective and appropriate control measures’.
In the Sound Advice guidance, it suggests a variety of steps which operators can take to reduce staff exposure to noise. For example, a reduction in volume of even 2dB can, in certain circumstances, ensure that staff can work significantly longer in certain areas.

The areas that Sound Advice offers guidance on include: Acoustic Controls: which help to absorb reverberant noise; Physical Separation - is suggested to ‘keep employees away from noisy areas’. This is not always terribly practical, but the guidance does suggest that operators could ‘position bars away from the dancefloor and performance areas,’ or ‘provide staff off-duty areas with noise levels below 80 dB’, or ‘locate bars in quiet areas or provide ‘chill-out’ rooms where the noise levels are preferably below 80 dB’; Direction controls: to help direct the sound to where it is wanted, i.e. the dancefloor - and away from bars and other areas; Volume Control: to keep all equipment in good working condition and make it clear who can use the volume controls; Managing Exposure: to reduce the length of time to which individuals are exposed – this can be done by rotating staff between noisy and quieter areas and providing regular ‘quiet breaks’; Information, instruction and training: making sure everyone understands what you are doing about noise, and why it is important; Hearing health checks: these are suggested to ensure that all staff who are working in noisy environments are regularly monitored; Hearing Protection: should be employed only after other ways of reducing noise have been explored or while you are implementing a more permanent solution.

Personal hearing protection must be used where necessary to eliminate or reduce the risk to hearing. The guidance recommends that staff should be involved in the selection of hearing protection and be given appropriate instruction of how to use it. Hearing protection should not be seen as the only option, but it might actually provide the best temporary answer for many operators. Realistically, it may be some time before the next re-fit of your premises and moving bars and sound systems can be relatively expensive – and time-consuming in terms of planning consents.

Therefore it makes sense to get a proper audit of your premises from a noise risk assessment and then work out a timetable of what can realistically be done to reduce your staff’s exposure to long periods of high volume.

The Sound Advice final wording will be agreed in the next couple of months, but in the meantime – the draft advice can be viewed at http://www.soundadvice.info

It may also be useful to have a look at the HSE Controlling Noise at Work leaflet which can be downloaded at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg362.pdf and for those who wish to view the The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005

Words: Paul Smith (Executive Director of BEDA)

From: February 2008 Issue

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