Noise Risk Assessments at the South and West Wales Safety Group

We were invited to present at a work shop on Noise Risk Assessments at the South and West Wales Safety Group.

The multi award-winning Group is in its 75th year and comprises of mix of different companies, including housing associations, contractors and local authorities. The members present were the key decision makers in health and safety at the mixed group of businesses they represented.

Blake Lucas provided a presentation to the group at the Mercure Hotel in Swansea. The presentation was on noise in general terms, the Noise Risk Assessments process, including the obligations as an employer, processes involved with completing a compliant Health and Safety Noise at Work Assessment , and what measures should be put in place to control the adverse effects of noise on your employees and reduce your risk as an employer. The workshop and presentation was received well with plenty of questions from the floor.

The presentation was completed in conjunction with Imperial Hearing and Protect Hear. As part of workshop Protect Hear provided a detailed presentation on hearings protection and the benefits of moulded hearing protection over disposables and ear muffs. Imperial Hearing provided presentations on the damaging effects of noise, Noise Induced Hearing Loss, including the causes and effects and the legal risk associated with being an employer with employees in a noise environment.

As part of the Q&A we gained a valuable understanding of the Noise at Work Assessments completed by each employer and what measures they currently had in place to minimise adverse effects of noise to their employees. It was interesting to understand the varying degrees of processes each member followed to protect their employees. We also provided them valuable advice on methods to protect their employees and improve the quality of their in house Noise at Work (or Noise Risk) Assessments. This includes ensuring the assessments are completed by a competent individual (IOA members or IOA Trained) and ensuring their equipment was High Quality (Type/Class 1 or 2) and regularly calibrated by competent Laboratories.

At Acoustic Consultants Limited all our employees are competent (minimum of TechIOA) at Noise at Work or Noise Risk Assessments and benefit from in house training, external courses and mentoring by senior consultants. Our equipment is all Class 1 and calibrated regularly by competent Laboratories. Over the last 30 years we have completed hundreds of Noise at Work and Noise Risk Assessments and are aware of what is realistically required. So if you have a Noise Risk concern please get in touch.