How do I determine employee noise at work exposure?

General noise levels within a factory will vary between areas and processes. Although noise levels may be high in some areas it may be that few employees are actually exposed to it whilst other ‘quieter’ tasks may impact directly upon employees. The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 determine that you should understand the risks that your employees may be exposed to. In assessing employee noise exposure it is important to obtain an accurate noise measurement of the process and determine the duration of exposure to that noise. Duration of exposure can be obtained by observation, knowledge of the process or by simply asking the employee. Recording an accurate noise measurement will typically require an integrating Sound Level Meter. Noise exposure is often a product of both direct noise from the machinery and the reverberant noise condition of the building. As result all noise measurements must be taken at ‘the ear’ of the employee whilst they are undertaking their typical daily tasks to determine their individual noise exposure. The HSE provides a useful online noise exposure calculator www.hse.gov.uk/noise that references the recorded level against the duration to determine individual noise exposure; the result will help to identify those employees that are at the greatest risk. For wider and more complete assessments of your Work Place Noise Risk Assessment then please contact us at Soundguard Acoustics and we will be happy to provide quotation.