NOISE ASSESSMENT AT WORK
WORKPLACE NOISE SURVEYS
Noise assessments for all workplaces nationwide, measuring employee noise exposure levels to help companies comply with the HSE’s Noise Regs.
All UK covered ● Experienced noise assessor ● Daily average noise exposures ● Assessment of hearing protection ● Wearable and hand-held noise monitoring ● Institute of Acoustics certified ● NEBOSH Diploma ● 30 years of experience ● Noise assessments to meet the HSE’s Noise Regs.
“Thank you again for our report, it’s great. Really understandable and easy to follow”
Compliance Manager, Northampton, 2025
What is an occupational noise assessment?
A noise assessment or noise survey is a measurement of the noise risks which employees are exposed to at work, it is a measurement looking at daily noise exposures and what needs to be done to control the risk.
As well as the noise levels, a noise assessment looks at hearing protection to make sure it is suitable for the noise risks present, identifies other possible noise reduction measures, looks at what signage is needed, and flags who needs other mandatory actions such as noise safety training and health surveillance (the regular hearing testing).
My noise assessments and the reports give clear plain-English advice on exactly what the noise risks are in the workplace and outline what employers need to do to manage the noise risk for employees. The noise assessment covers the noise measurements needed to keep the HSE happy and tells you exactly what ongoing measures are needed for Noise Regs compliance, in an easy to follow way.
What is a noise assessment - a quick guide to what a noise assessment contains for employers.
“Morning Adam, once again thank you for an excellent noise assessment report for our Bolton site.”
Production Manager for chain of packaging sites, September 2024
Workplace noise assessment specialist, covering England, Scotland or Wales
I focus on just one thing, noise assessments, done well.
Clearly a noise expert
The onsite noise assessment itself
Using high quality wearable and Type 1 hand-held noise meters and dosimeters, I can undertake noise assessments in workplaces with anything from two to 2000 employees, anywhere in the UK. With up to 15 noise meters in use, quite large areas can be covered quickly and effectively.
Employer’s noise survey report
My noise assessment reports are written to give clear advice for the employer with straight-forward ‘these are your noise exposure levels and this is what you need to do next’ advice. The additional technical detail is also then included for those who wish to dive deeper.
How to tell if you need a noise assessment
There is a conundrum - how do you know if you need a noise assessment without actually doing a noise assessment? You need to do one if there is a chance noise levels may be over 80 dB(A), the lower of the limits. I have a page on how to tell if you need a noise assessment with more info.
Noise assessments for HSE Noise Regs.
My noise assessments cover the noise exposure levels in the workplace, assessment of the hearing protection, advice on some noise reduction measures, and identifying any training or hearing testing (health surveillance) needs. If you’ve had the HSE in, this assessment is what you need.
“Thank you for the noise assessment report, very informative and very well put together”
Engineering site’s Managing Director, Wolverhampton, on a noise assessment for them in 2024.
Noise assessment competence
Institute of Acoustics certified, NEBOSH Diploma, and over 30 years of experience in workplace noise assessment. Also a member of the British Society of Audiology and done thousands of workplace hearing tests. I have a thorough knowledge of the practicalities of noise assessment and the associated health issues.
Simple on the day
Point me at the area you want the noise survey to cover and I will assess the dB(A) and peak dB(C) levels, using whichever type of noise meter best suits the jobs taking place. Noise measurements are made for as long as is needed to get a good result. For jobs which are not running, sample measurements can be done.
The noise assessment report
My noise assessment report gives a summary of the key findings followed by specific results details as simple headlines, and detailed recommendations for those who want to dive into it more deeply. I go through hearing protection, identify who needs noise training and who may need the ongoing health surveillance.
“I would just like to thank you for your time on site, and the professional manner in which the noise assessment was conducted. Your report also reflects this, I've found it very easy to read and from which to produce an action plan.” - MD of an engineering site, Newcastle
I’ve done noise assessments for satellite production, many food factories, the army, airports, packaging factories, joinery or engineering workshops, ship building, NHS hospitals, vehicle repair workshops, ships at sea, recycling centres, local Councils, schools and colleges, maintenance departments for shopping centres, window and door manufacturing and many more.
With over 600 clients now, they range from companies with three people while the largest employs over 45,000, plus organisations like the NHS.
My noise assessments give clear, simple advice for employers on who has a noise risk in their job and what the employer needs to do next for noise safety. Having sat on your side of the desk for many years I write my noise assessment reports in a non-jargon-laden way so employers get straight-forward information rather than just handing over a massive table of rather baffling numbers and dense noise-nerd terminology.
I have done noise assessments from RAF bases in Scotland to ice cream factories in Cornwall, paper making factories in Kent to timber mills in Pembrokeshire. There can’t be an industrial estate left in the West Midlands or North West where I haven’t waved a noise meter around with reckless abandon at some point.
Whatever your industry, wherever you are in the UK, I can provide a high quality workplace noise assessment for you.
Noise assessment quote
How the noise assessment process works
The noise assessment itself - on the day
I will rock up, ask a few questions about things like training history, hearing protection policies, shift patterns, etc. then get on with measuring the noise levels.
That can include putting some wearable meters on the shoulders of some people, putting long-term meters in certain positions, and always wandering around with a hand-held meter to get detailed noise measurements for various tasks.
People should just work as normal, there is nothing special needed from the client on the day. The one exception is non-running equipment where to get a measurement someone will need to fire it up for a quick measurement.
Places like joinery or engineering workshops can be a little different as there is often no set working routine here, with different jobs each day. In places like this I need someone to quickly operate each tool so I can get a reading from it.
The noise assessment report
Afterwards I will send you a noise assessment report which includes:
What your noise levels are and how that compares to the legal noise limits so you can easily see if anything is over or under.
It will tell you precisely which staff have a noise risk in their job, and therefore who needs to have things like training, hearing protection or hearing testing. I can point you at known good providers for the hearing testing if that helps.
It will assess current and possible alternatives for hearing protection and confirm what is suitable for your specific noise risk - something the HSE often look to see in place.
It will also make suggestions for ways to reduce noise levels if possible.
And it will tell you when to repeat it.
“Thank you so much for all your help. I'd also just like to say that the report is extremely helpful from the point of view of someone who is not a noise expert so thank you for that!” - Workshop Manager, London, May 2025
Noise assessments can even sometimes save you money
With a fair wind behind you and some luck, as well as keeping the HSE and your insurer happy, just occasionally a noise assessment can save a considerable chunk of money for clients. Recent cases have included:
A noise assessment for a new client who was also planning on getting over 200 hearing tests done every year as it sounded noisy in their factory. The noise assessment showed the averages to be well below the 85 dB(A) limit though so hearing tests were not needed, a saving of around £5k per year.
A client had used a phone app to look at their noise, decided it was high, and several years ago started getting all 380 staff covered with hearing testing at a cost of nearly £10k a year. They asked for a proper noise assessment and it confirmed that of the 380 staff, they actually only needed to get hearing tests done for 14 of them. So from £10k to about £500, each year.
A small client had done hearing testing for years as they thought it was noisy but had never measured the noise. My noise assessment confirmed it was not needed so that ongoing cost could be dropped as there was no risk.
Another small company had been told by their insurer that they thought hearing tests should be done as ‘it sounds noisy’. My noise assessment showed it was nowhere near the limits and hearing testing was not needed, again, an ongoing saving every year.
Common questions about noise assessments at work
Also see the Managing Noise Safety pages and the Blog for more in-depth information.
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If an employer thinks levels may be close to 80 dB(A) then they have to get a noise assessment - they have to measure the noise levels.
That can be based on manufacturer’s data or things like a need to shout to be heard.
IF LEVELS ARE 80 TO 84 dB(A) OR 135 dB(C)
Do a noise assessment.
Employee noise safety training has to be given.
Hearing protection has to be made available.
The use of the hearing protection is optional for employees - they can choose whether to use it or not.
IF LEVELS ARE 85 dB(A) or 137 dB(C) OR OVER
Reduce the noise levels by engineering controls where reasonably possible.
Use organisational controls if possible, eg limiting exposure time by job rotation.
Hearing protection use is mandatory.
Hearing testing (audiometry) is mandatory.
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I probably do at least one noise assessment each week where some unlucky soul opened their front door to find one or two horned devils from the HSE standing there. The Inspector had a steely glare behind the monocle over their one good eye and told the employer to sort out a noise assessment pronto.
My noise assessment reports will help you, covering the noise assessment needed for the Noise Regs., and helping stop the small business owner getting locked up in a cell for 23 hours a day with Big Dave the Troubled and Touchy Sex Pest.
One tip, if you have been told to review the need for the full gamut of noise assessment, hearing protection assessment and hearing testing (health surveillance), do the noise assessment first before booking things like hearing testing or buying more PPE in. The noise assessment will tell you if hearing testing is needed and if so who needs to be covered by it, and will specify what type of hearing protection to get - don’t forget ‘strongest is best’ is not the case for ear plugs or ear muffs so don’t buy hearing protection without a noise assessment in place first.
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This is covered in the noise assessment for you.
One of the biggest mistakes a lot of employers make, entirely via the best of intentions, is to get the strongest hearing protection they find, but stronger is not synonymous with ‘better’ and you can have too much as well as too little.
My noise assessment will cover the hearing protection issue for you, looking at:
Assessing the current hearing protection’s performance to make sure it is right for the noise risk.
Giving a list of suitable alternatives so you can choose others if you wish to change in the future.
Identifying who needs to use hearing protection at work.
Identifying who needs training about it.
Setting out what other ongoing measures the employer may need to have in place, such as monitoring and supervision of its use.
All that will cover the hearing protection issues for you.
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The law says you should repeat your noise assessment when you have reason to believe it is no longer valid or when changes have been made which could impact on the noise.
You can do a regular review in-house and then a less frequent repeat of the noise assessment process. This means you don’t have to redo the entire noise assessment every year.
More information here on when to repeat a noise assessment.
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To be honest, no, not all that useful.
The best way to explain that is a site I went to recently. They had an area where average noise levels were OK, about 77 to 78 dB(A), but had very brief periods where the noise jumped to about 88 dB(A) for a few seconds.
With the best of intentions they’d put one of those illuminating signs up and had a policy that when it lit up, hearing protection was needed. The problem was the sign flashed on occasionally and briefly, so everyone just ignored it.
The main issue though is that the Noise Regs are interested in the average noise level for a day, not really the peak dB(A), and an occasional peak of 88 dB(A) in an otherwise quiet area was pretty much irrelevant and had no material impact on people’s daily exposures, which remained well below the limit.
Noise signs where the noise is intermittent like this are therefore pretty useless in reality. If they only light up briefly then everyone ignores them, and they indicate hearing protection as needed when in reality it isn’t.
Illuminating noise signs don’t really add much even if the noise is high for a prolonged period, as then hearing protection is then mandatory and should be being worn anyway.
“Thank you for all the noise safety information provided in the noise assessment and arranging it for us. Would just like to say I really appreciate all the knowledge you have shared with me as the guidance alongside the results really helped. This is a pretty new process for our site due to the recent introduction of new machinery and I have found the noise side of it very interesting. I will be sure to highly recommend your company to our sister site in England”. - H&S Manager, Irvine, Scotland