Managing hearing protection at work: A guide for employers
Hearing protection is at the bottom of the list of controls measured in the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, but it is the most common noise control in place across industry.
Choosing the right hearing protection is an important noise risk control measure but that means finding protection which is suitable for the specific noise risk, not always getting the strongest protectors available.
This is some guidance on the process for hearing protection selection and managing its use following a noise assessment, along with a library of the more detailed guidance articles expanding on specific aspects of hearing protection use at work.
Also includes some free tools to help with identifying the correct hearing protection to use, including identifying what SNR is most suitable for your noise risk, or listing specific types of hearing protection which could suit.
What are the employer’s obligations for hearing protection?
If your noise assessment confirms there is a noise risk then there are certain elements which apply and which the employer must comply with.
Noise assessment shows noise between 80-84 dB(A) or 135-136 dB(C)
You have to make suitable hearing protection available, where ‘suitable’ means it is appropriate for the noise risk.
You have to put signs up saying hearing protection is available.
You must tell people it is there and how to use it, but whether they use it can be can be left up to them.
Noise assessment shows noise of 85 dB(A) or 137 dB(C) and over
An employer has to make suitable hearing protection available which again means calculating to make sure it is correct for the noise risk.
You must have signs up saying it is mandatory.
Hearing protection must be issued and usage is mandatory. It should not be shared between people.
Everyone must be trained in how to use it, how and when to replace it, and who to report problems to.
For reusable hearing protection, you must have somewhere clean for them to store it when not in use.
You must have systems in place to monitor compliance with it and that it is used correctly, and take steps to enforce this. That includes disciplinary action for people who repeatedly do not wear hearing protection.
How to choose the correct hearing protection to use
SNR is your guide to how strong a hearing protector is
SNR - Single Number Rating, is a nice simple single figure which tells you how strong a hearing protector is. SNR ranges from ≈16 dB at the lowest to 39 dB at the highest.
Never use NRR, that is American and is only for people who think cheese can be squirted out of a can.
Never buy the strongest hearing protection you see
Hearing protection needs to be ‘enough but not too much’. Workplaces with average noise levels of around 90 dB(A) need hearing protection with an SNR of about 20 dB or so.
There is a point where stronger hearing protection gives lesser compliance and an increase in risk.
Cheap doesn’t always mean nasty, it just won’t last as long
Hearing protection varies in price but price isn’t a guide to how strong it is. For example, 3M’s Optime I muff has an SNR of 27 for about £14, while Beeswift’s BBED has an SNR of 28 for about £3.
More expensive will usually last longer and be more comfortable, but isn’t always ‘more safety’.
Some tools for identifying the right SNR level for your noise risk
These tools advise on what kind of SNR level is suitable for which level of workplace noise.
SNR Check
Enter the SNR of a hearing protector and this will tell you what kind of average noise level it is suitable for.
Hearing protection bands
Grouping hearing protection into bands of how powerful they are based on the certified SNR levels, along with the dB(A) noise level they are mostly suitable for.
SNR Reference Table
These are based on a noise level under the hearing protection of 75 dB, which is spot-on perfect in an ideal world. They let you look at an average noise level and show what the best SNR would be the absolute sweet-spot for that noise.
Hearing protector suitability calculator
This is a different way of looking at it and allows you to check that a specific SNR is indeed suitable for your noise risk.
This uses the bandings rather than aiming at the perfect 75 dB so has a little more wriggle-room for identifying suitability.
Enter your noise level - remember, as average dB(C), not the peak dB(C) or the average dB(A), and the SNR of the hearing protector you are interested in. Press the magic ‘calculate’ button and it will give you the noise level people will experience under the hearing protection.
This calculation includes the HSE’s 4 dB allowance for some slightly incorrect use.
| SNR (dB) | Average noise level suitable for | Strength Band |
|---|
Hearing protector search tool
As an alternative way of choosing the right hearing protection, rather than telling you which SNR to focus on, this tool allows you to enter the known noise level - using average dB(C) - and it will give you the names some suitable hearing protectors for your noise risk along with the noise level you can expect people to hear under the protector.
You can filter it by type and the note in each specifies more detail such as whether it is detectable (so food-industry safe). Again, to stress, to use SNR in this way you need to have the average dB(C) noise data from your noise assessment, not dB(A) and especially not the peak dB(C).
Recommended hearing protectors for use at work
As there is a bewildering array of hearing protection on the market, these are the ones I would recommend for each of the SNR bands.
Loop Engage 2 plugs (SNR 16): Reusable and comfy and you can hear speech clearly, sometimes forget they are in the ear!
Site SEP200 banded plugs (SNR 16): From Screwfix, low SNR, good for on-off situations.
Loop Experience 2 plugs (SNR 17): Reusable, not isolating, comfy, cheaper than disposables after about 12 weeks.
Skytec Sota DO23 (SNR 19) Detectable plugs for the food industry but can be used anywhere.
JSP Soundstopper banded plugs (SNR 20): Another good low-SNR banded plug.
I am not aware of any muffs which fall into this bracket.
Moldex Mellows plugs (SNR 21): Disposable, comfy and a good SNR for most places.
Ultimate Industrial EP103X muff (SNR 21): Low cost and a nice low SNR, one of the lowest SNR muffs on the market.
Uvex Whisper plugs (SNR 22): Reusable and also have a detectable version for the food industry, a good choice.
E-A-R Caps (SNR 24): Banded plugs, again good where the hearing protection need is on/off through the day.
Peltor Optime I muff (SNR 26): Reasonably low SNR, available in several formats, built to last a long time.
Portwest PW40 muff (SNR 27): Cheaper than chips but a decent choice.
Delta Plus Interlagos 2 muff (SNR 29): Good build quality and comfy, SNR of 29 means just into this bracket.
ISOTunes Air Defender (SNR 30): Muff with Bluetooth music, comfy, battery lasts all day, good sound quality. Excellent.
Moldex Rockets plugs (SNR 30): Reusable so can last quite a long time.
E-A-R Classic plugs (SNR 31): The yellow foam tube ones, been around for yonks but do the job.
Peltor Optime II muff (SNR 31): Like all Peltor muffs, built to survive the apocalypse and last well.
Skytec Sota RP15 plugs (SNR 32): Detectable, for food industries with a very high noise level.
Honeywell Laser Lite plugs (SNR 35): Disposable foam ones, the ones which look like pear drops, comfy to use.
Moldex M6 muff (SNR 35): A little pricey but comfy and very effective.
Delta Plus ConicDE plugs (SNR 36): Detectable so suitable for the food industry but need a high noise risk at this level.
ISOTunes Pro plugs (SNR 36): A plug with Bluetooth music playback, good in place of AirPods, etc.
Peltor X5A muffs (SNR 37): Getting towards as strong as hearing protection can be, but like all Peltor will last forever.
E-A-Rsoft FX plugs (SNR 37): About as strong as you can get, disposable foam plugs, big but soft so comfy to wear.
The hearing protection I use
For what it’s worth, I come across a lot of different hearing protection every day but as I buy my own, the hearing protectors I choose to use myself are:
For doing noise assessments, the Loop Engage 2 plugs are my most-used hearing protection, or the ISOTunes Air Defenders.
I also regularly wield a chainsaw with reckless abandon at the weekends and for that I use the Moldex M6 muffs.
As I spend a lot of time in hotels, for the strongest noise attenuation but still being comfy I use the E-A-Rsoft FX plugs for sleeping.
I also use the Loop Experience 2 plugs on my motorbike as they ‘take the top off’ the noise without being isolating and you can still hear everything around you, which would also apply to workplaces.
Beware of some online sellers
There are a lot of companies selling via places such as Amazon and eBay which have great sounding hearing protection and quite slick sales pages, but everything is not quite as it seems.
Often they make no mention of certification to EN352, and some will say things like ‘25dB of noise reduction’ without actually saying that is a certified SNR of 25 dB.
Others say things like ‘suitable for home, work, shooting, DIY’ but that is not confirmation they are actually certified for use at work.
If they only quote an ‘NRR’ figure but no SNR, don’t buy them.
What to look for when buying hearing protection
FAQ: Common questions relating to hearing protection at work
Sometimes questions come up as employers look into hearing protection at work.
We have some quiet areas and some noisy ones, can we allow people to use hearing protection in the quieter areas?
That’s absolutely fine, they can choose to wear them in quieter areas if they want, there are no blanket prohibitions on that. The only time it may become a problem is in places with things like forklifts whizzing around as you don’t want to stop people hearing those, or if it then meant they can’t hear sounds like fire alarms, but as long as that’s not the case then they can wear them if they wish.
We have hearing protection with a good low SNR but I have one person who really wants the strongest possible protection, are we allowed to do that?
The employer has to ensure the hearing protection they provide by default is suitable for the noise risk, which includes making sure it is not over-protecting (see below). But, if someone actively chooses to have stronger hearing protection than is needed then the issues of non-compliance which arise with over-protection are not going to be a problem, so as long as they can still hear any alarms or vehicles moving around them (if there are any) then it is OK.
We have been told our hearing protection is too strong, surely there is no such thing as too much protection?
As a very rough summary, hearing protection is something of a bell-curve. If it is too weak then there is a lot of risk, if it is spot-on then the risk is controlled, but then when it gets to be too strong people stop wearing it properly to allow more sound through, and the risk increases again. As hearing protection gets too strong then generally risk goes up, not down. I have more detail on this here: risks of over-protection.
I have an employee with a letter from his G.P. saying he is exempt from using hearing protection as it irritates his ears, is this allowed?
No, a G.P. cannot exempt someone from a need to wear hearing protection in a high-noise area, they do not have the power to over-rule the law. If there is a noise risk then hearing protection is needed. At the risk of making that slightly less clear, there are actually two exceptions to this: If a specialist writes confirming that someone has a form of profound hearing loss which cannot be made worse by excess noise then hearing protection need not be worn, but that is usually someone who is pretty much totally deaf already and their ears are doing nothing more than keeping glasses straight. Also, the HSE can grant time-limited exceptions in very limited circumstances if the hearing protection use introduces a larger risk. Read more: Disclaimers or GP letters exempting hearing protection.
I have issued hearing protection and told them when to wear it, surely it is up to them to comply now?
No, the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 place an equal duty on the employer to monitor usage of hearing protection and to take steps to enforce usage where issues are identified.
I have someone who wants to use noise-cancelling headphones instead of hearing protection, is that OK?
A very common situation and question these days but one with an easy answer - no, they cannot be used. Standard noise-cancelling headphones are not certified as hearing protection so cannot be used. If you have hearing protection with Bluetooth music playback then that is fine, but they are hearing protection first and foremost. You can read more on this here: noise-cancelling headphones as hearing protection.
Do forklift drivers have to wear hearing protection?
Yes, there is no blanket exemption for forklift drivers from the need to wear hearing protection if they are in a high noise area which is a hearing protection zone.
Why can’t we buy hearing protection based on the NRR level?
NRR means Noise Reduction Rating and is a system used in America to assess hearing protection. Here in the UK, and in the EU, we use SNR - the Single Number Rating. NRR and SNR are not the same, they are calculated differently and can have quite a difference between their values. NRR has no relevance here and cannot be used.
For transparency, what kickbacks or referral payments do you get for recommending hearing protection?
None. As you can see, there are no links to suppliers on any of the recommended hearing protection named on this website, there is no way for any supplier to know a recommendation was made here if you choose to buy them. This is also why I do not sell hearing protection - the issue of raising a hearing protection issue in a noise assessment but then also selling the solution seems too much of a conflict of interest.
Helpful advice and guidance on specific areas of hearing protection at work
As I have spent over 30 years working in workplace noise safety, I’ve identified some of the common issues and questions which come up with hearing protection and put together short articles giving advice and guidance on them.
