Workplace Noise Risk Assessment Guide

A workplace noise risk assessment is a structured evaluation of the noise to which workers are exposed, the resulting risk to hearing and the controls needed to manage that risk. Under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, it is the employer's responsibility to ensure such an assessment is suitable and sufficient where workers may be exposed at or above the lower action value.

The employer is responsible. The assessment can be carried out internally where there is genuine competence, or by external specialists. In either case the employer remains accountable for ensuring it is suitable, sufficient, properly recorded and acted upon.

An assessment is required wherever workers are likely to be exposed at or above the lower exposure action value, or where there is reason to suspect noise may harm health. It should also be reviewed when machinery, processes, layout, working patterns or workforce change materially.

No. A generic checklist may help structure thinking, but it is not automatically suitable and sufficient. The assessment must reflect the actual tasks, machinery, exposure and workers at the workplace, and the level of detail should be proportionate to the risk involved.

Where the assessment identifies significant findings, those findings and the actions taken should be recorded so that the assessment can be implemented, reviewed and demonstrated. The size of the organisation does not remove this responsibility.

LEX,8h is the daily personal noise exposure level in dB(A) normalised to a notional eight-hour working day. It combines the equivalent continuous sound level of each activity with its duration so that exposures can be compared with the UK action values and limit value.

The lower exposure action value is 80 dB(A) LEX,8h with a peak action value of 135 dB(C). The upper exposure action value is 85 dB(A) LEX,8h with a peak action value of 137 dB(C). The exposure limit value at the ear is 87 dB(A) LEX,8h with a peak value of 140 dB(C).

Not always. Where the available information clearly shows exposure is well below the lower action value, measurement may not be needed. Where exposure is likely to approach or exceed an action value, or cannot be reliably estimated from existing information, measurement is normally required.

A similar exposure group is a group of workers whose tasks, equipment, locations and shift patterns mean their exposure can reasonably be represented by sampling within the group. SEGs help focus measurement effort and interpret results, but the basis for grouping must be defensible.

There is no single universal review interval. Review is needed when machinery, processes, layout, working patterns or workforce change materially, when monitoring or audiometry suggests change, and at sensible periodic intervals appropriate to the workplace. The right cycle is set by the level and stability of risk.

Health surveillance, typically including audiometric testing, is used to detect early hearing change in workers regularly exposed at or above the upper action value, or where there is concern about exposure. It supports the wider programme but does not in itself prevent damage.

Records typically include the scope and methodology, measurement data and instrument detail, similar exposure groups, comparison with action values, existing and recommended controls, hearing protection decisions, training and surveillance arrangements, actions, responsibilities and review dates.

Yes. The assessment should consider all people likely to be exposed by the work, including agency workers, contractors and visitors. The duties follow the work rather than the contractual arrangement, and access controls and PPE rules should reflect this.