Exposure to noise at work can cause irreversible hearing
damage. It is one of the most common health problems and can be difficult to
detect as the effects build up over time. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
claim that industrial hearing loss remains the occupational disease with the
highest number of civil claims accounting for about 75% of all occupational
disease claims.
According to the Electric Contractors’ Insurance Company
(ECIC), a specialist insurer to the construction industry, the number of
deafness claims it managed more than doubled between 2012 and 2013.
How to protect your business
It is important for an employer to implement the guidelines
set out by the HSE. Under the HSE guidelines an employer must assess the risk
to workers' health and provide them with information and training if the noise
is consistently over 80 decibels. If the noise level exceeds 85 decibels there
is a further duty to provide hearing protection and protection zones. There is
also an exposure limit value of 87 decibels, taking account of any reduction in
exposure provided by hearing protection, above which workers must not be
exposed.
Managing Risk
An obvious step is to provide protective equipment that is
properly maintained and ensuring it is usable in conjunction with the other
protective equipment used by workers.
Another is to consider whether noise levels from the machinery employed
could be reduced by, for example, introducing new quieter alternatives or carrying
out more regular maintenance. A third is
appropriate job rotation, to ensure workers are not exposed to noise levels for
extended periods of time.
Proactive enforcement
An enforcement program should be in place to include:
- recording
the need to wear hearing protection in your health and safety policy;
- putting
someone in authority in overall charge of issuing protectors;
- making
sure replacements are readily available;
- carrying
out spot-checks to see that that hearing protection is being used properly
(if employees are not doing so company disciplinary procedures must be
used); and
- ensuring
all managers and supervisors set a good example by wearing hearing
protection themselves.
It is important that employers provide thorough training to
their employees who are consistently exposed to loud noise especially as an
employee may retrospectively claim against previous employees for their
contributory fault. The inherent difficulty in determining fault increases the
importance of instilling protective measures and accurate record keeping to assist
the production of defence(s) to such claims should they be brought.
For further information you should visit the HSE website,
which provides excellent guidance on the topic. http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg362.htm
By Paul Smith
Paul is an associate in the Construction team at
Cripps. To find out more about Paul
please click here