Despite ear plugs having quite a low per-pair cost, that cost can soon mount up and it is tempting for employers to limit how many pairs people can use in a given period, or the employees themselves choose to reuse them, but this is not always a good approach and can also be a false economy.

When it comes to noise assessments, managing noise risks and issuing hearing protection, employers need to monitor and enforce usage but also importantly have a system in place for checking the hearing protection is still suitable for use and is not deteriorating or damaged.

A need for hearing protection is a common outcome of a noise assessment or a noise survey but how do you choose the right hearing protection for your noise risk, especially as 'strongest is best' is usually not the case.

A common issue following a noise assessment concerns people who wear hearing aids but who also work in a high noise area so fall into the requirements for hearing protection to be worn. This is some advice on how to manage it.

Hearing protection comes in a very wide range of prices, but is price consistent with ‘better’ hearing protection?

Loop have emerged recently as one of the new entrants in the hearing protection market, with a lot of their marketing focused on social media. There are a lot of these types of company popping up these days but in Loop’s case their claims for their ear plugs are intriguing, so I decided to give a couple of styles a try.

Can someone use noise cancelling headphones in place of hearing protection in a high noise environment? Short answer is no, not if there is a noise risk as they are not certified as hearing protection.

Often people offer to sign a disclaimer saying they accept the risk of hearing damage from not wearing protection, or they produce a letter from a doctor saying they do not have to wear it, but both are no good.

There is no exemption from the need to wear hearing protection for forklift drivers. High noise will have the same impact on them as on any other person. Their hearing will still be damaged by noise.

It is common to hear someone claim a medical exemption from the need to wear hearing protection at work, sometimes backed up with a note or letter from a GP, or sometimes self-claimed, but are medical exemptions from the need to wear hearing protection possible?

In a noise assessment, it is common to hear a comment along the lines of ‘we’ve given them hearing protection and told them to wear it, so what else can we do’, but that is not the end of the employer’s obligations for hearing protection.

I was looking through all my other noise assessment related blog posts and thought ‘you know what, these are all very exciting but I reckon I can take it up another notch and push things to the very limit’, so here it is, an article on what the standards are for hearing protection at work. Brace yourself, it’s a rock n’ roll ride.

A common recommendation I have seen from Occupational Health Physicians has been ‘recommend wear double hearing protection’. What they are saying is that they recommend the person concerned wears two sets of hearing protection, usually a plug and a muff over the top, but to be honest, it is mostly irrelevant and almost always has no link to the findings of the noise assessment.

Can wearing ear plugs cause tinnitus when worn all day in a factory?

Sometimes people will say using ear plugs causes them to get ear infections, but do ear plugs actually cause infections? Short answer, no. Dirty hands putting them in, that can cause an infection, but not the plugs themselves.

Manufacturers of tools and equipment have an obligation to make data available on the expected noise level for their product. The HSE latch on to this and list this as a source of information which employers could use in deciding if there is a noise risk in the workplace?

How a noise assessment works on the day - what a client can expect. Covering everything from arrival on the site to measuring the noise levels and what a client needs to do.

Employers must manage noise risks in their workplace, but what they need to do depends on how loud it is. This describes what is needed depending on the findings of a noise assessment.

Now that is a good question, the Noise Regs require an employer to do a noise assessment if they think there is a noise risk, but how do you know you have a noise risk without doing a noise assessment…?

A noise assessment does need to be reviewed or repeated from scratch sometimes, but you don’t always have to get someone in to do it. This is guidance on when to review a noise assessment or get a new noise assessment done.

Noise survey vs noise assessment vs noise risk assessment - what do they all mean, what is the difference between them and what do employers need to have in place?

In a noise assessment you will see a few different types of noise data presented and it can seem a little baffling. Noise is measured in decibels, but not all decibels are the same, that would be far too easy.

There is a temptation when told you need something as nebulous as a noise assessment to buy a cheap noise meter off somewhere like Amazon and crack on yourselves. It is of course possible to do a noise assessment yourself and these are the main point to watch out for and make sure you cover.