There are two basic types of noise meter, hand-held and wearable, (also called dosimeters or dosimeters). Wearables have a use but care is needed with them, especially if they are going to be used as the primary means of gathering data in a noise assessment.

A common question is how long a noise assessment will take on a site. It is influenced by a few things such as variation in work on the site, production cycles and number of people present. These are the factors influencing how long a noise assessment takes place on the day.

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.

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.

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.

The short answer is no, illuminated noise safety signs are not useful, and in many cases simply mislead. They have no part in a noise assessment. The article explains more about why this is the case.

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.

One of the grey areas of noise safety is noise exposure while driving for work. By drivers I mean anyone driving as part of their job so the obvious ones like van or HGV drivers, but also driving around in a car or van - managers on site visits, sales reps, any person driving between sites or to customer sites, etc.

One of the key elements of a noise assessment is identifying who needs to be included in what the HSE call ‘health surveillance’, a slightly Orwellian way of saying ‘hearing testing’. It has to be repeated and this is a guide to how often.

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.

Part of a noise assessment is to identify who needs to be included in a hearing testing programme, and the HSE specify the result categories to be used. This is what the categories are and what they mean.

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?

A common question which comes up on noise assessments is what classes a dangerous noise in an office environment, with people asking what the safe levels are for noise in offices. The issue is often more about distracting noise rather than dangerous noise.

A client recently asked me if pregnant women are OK to work in an environment with a noise level which is considered ‘high’, so over 85 dB(A), or whether the noise can cause risk to either the pregnancy or foetus. That was an interesting one so I looked into it further.

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.

Noise levels can be very high when riding a motorbike - easily in the mid-90s dB(A) which can damage hearing. Ear plugs need to be enough to remove some of the noise but not isolate you from traffic, and they need to be soft and not painful under the helmet. These are some recommendations.

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

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.

The Noise Regs focus on daily average noise risk levels for staff, but for some workplaces such as joinery workshops or small metal fabrication businesses, the daily variation in the work is such that an average noise exposure level on one day has no relevant to any others.

This is a common question for hearing protection, be it due to external noise from life in a town or city, shift workers trying to sleep when everyone else is awake, trying to sleep in hotels, or just with a partner who snores a lot.