Noise risk assessment vs Noise assessment vs Noise Survey
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2025 talk about a noise risk assessment but you will also see noise assessments and noise surveys mentioned.
Key points on noise risk assessments vs noise assessments vs noise surveys
A noise survey is usually a map of the site with noise levels on. That has no relevance to the noise risk assessment requirements in the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 - the Noise Regs are interested in the noise people receive, not the noise machines make, a subtle but important difference.
A noise assessment is the measuring of the noise and identifying the areas with risk, identifying the right PPE needs, some noise reduction measures, identifying who needs training and also things like health surveillance. It identifies the steps needed to manage a lot of the noise risks as measured.
A noise risk assessment takes the noise assessment and says what the employer is actually going to do to manage the noise risk. That is the the goal of the process.
A noise consultant can do the noise assessment. Only the employer (or someone embedded there) can do the noise risk assessment as it sets out the internal systems for managing the various part of the noise risk management, such as what the systems will be for health surveillance and who manages it.
Noise survey vs noise assessment vs noise risk assessment - what is the difference?
The terminology in noise assessment can be obtuse enough already, but it is not helped by these seemingly-interchangeable phrases which all sound the same but which are slightly different.
Put as simply as possible, an employer needs to do a noise risk assessment, one component of which is the noise assessment.
The noise assessment is the measuring noise bit, then the noise risk assessment is that plus other gubbins like hearing test records and training records.
Noise survey (noise map)
Usually this means a plan of a factory with some noise levels marked on it. While it can possibly be useful generally, it is not what is required by the Noise Regs and it is not a noise assessment. A noise assessment is the noise levels, but also much more.
A plan of the site may tell you how loud Bob’s machine is, but it doesn’t tell you what Bob’s daily noise exposure is if he spends a varying amount of time on three different machines.
The Noise Regs don’t actually care much about a machine’s noise level if nobody is exposed to it. If you have a hypothetical machine in a room and the machine generates 100 dB(A) but nobody is in there, nobody is exposed to it, and as soon as the door is opened then the machine stops, the Regs don’t really care as long as that cut-off remains in place. Nobody is exposed.
A plan can show where the noisy areas are but that doesn’t equate to individual noise exposure levels and the data on it has little relevance to assessing the noise risks as required in the Noise Regs.
Noise assessment
This is the meaty one and a noise assessment is part of what the Noise Regs want to see in place. A noise assessment does include the same noise levels measured in the basic noise survey, but also looks at:
How long are people exposed to the noise in a day, and how often is that repeated.
What combination of exposures do they get - is it from one machine or more likely from several, changing in the day.
From each of those bits of information, what average noise exposure levels are people likely to get in a day, and also are there any excessively loud peaks or bangs.
What hearing protection do they need and is it assessed as being safe for the noise risk identified.
Who needs to be included in a health surveillance programme (hearing testing).
What signage is needed.
Who needs to be included in any noise safety training programme.
What are some potential noise risk control measures such as engineering ones to stop noise being generated or to contain it, or organisational one such as limiting the time people are exposed to the noise.
Does the site have people with a particular risk, e.g. hearing aid users in a high noise area who are near moving vehicles. This partly falls into the noise assessment and also into any health surveillance.
A noise nerd such as myself can provide the noise assessment for you.
Noise risk assessment
This is what the Noise Regs want as the outcome and this needs to be done by the employer, but don’t panic, it is not massively onerous and the bulk of the work has been done for you in the noise assessment.
The noise risk assessment is composed of:
The noise assessment identifying noise exposure levels, hearing protection requirements, health surveillance needs, signage, etc. This is the noise assessment report I provide.
The health surveillance records and key outcomes. Your noise risk assessment should say what is in place to manage this, who manages it, when is it next due. Importantly, this also where you may identify if you have people who are especially at risk because of other issues such as already-poor hearing. Your health surveillance provider should advise who this applies to.
Training records for noise safety. When was it done, when is it next due, who is responsible for it, how do you cover new starters.
PPE records, covering selection, issuing and a monitoring system to check usage and confirm it is still in good enough condition to use.
Any planned maintenance works impacting on noise safety.
What you are planning on doing in the future to look at possible noise reduction measures.
Whether you have ‘buying quiet’ as a factor in the systems for purchasing new machinery.
As you can see, no external consultant can provide a noise risk assessment as it includes referencing your internal procedures for monitoring PPE, your training records, and your occupational health screening records to which a noise assessment consultant does not have access, nor should they.
But, I cannot stress this enough - a noise risk assessment is very simple at heart. The vast bulk of the work is two documents, the noise assessment I provide and your health screening records. You do not have to rewrite a massive risk assessment. The noise risk assessment can simply be a basic document referencing those other noise safety measures in place. It is basically a simple management tool saying ‘we have X in place, it will be redone on X date’.
I have a free noise risk assessment template available to download if you wish and which may help reassure on the work needed.
FAQ: Noise risk assessment vs noise assessment vs noise survey
Can a consultant do the noise risk assessment for me or just the noise assessment?
An external consultant could do the noise risk assessment for you but to be clear, that is not what noise consultants normally sell. They sell you a noise assessment. Any good consultant could do the noise risk assessment as well but you would be wasting your money - to do it they would have to ask you who is responsible for things like PPE, where it is kept, who people ask for new PPE, who arranges training, when you are planning training or hearing testing, and so on. You already know all that so by the time you’ve had a noise assessment done and answered the consultant’s questions for a noise risk assessment you may as well just write it all down and you’ve done the noise risk assessment yourself without making it more convoluted and more expensive.
More help and advice on noise assessments
Article last reviewed April 2026
