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Every year the EU holds a campaign that focuses on specific area on health and safety at work, increasingly these have become a strong pointer to what the major issues that affect industry are, and how approaches to them are likely to develop. Last years campaign focused on the construction industry and raised many interesting topics that will continue to be relevant for a long time. This year the more general topic of noise at work is being dealt with.
The fact that noise is seen as such a serious issue may not be such a surprise to workers in the construction industry, where it can often be accepted as an everyday reality, but the campaign is aimed at all workplaces and aims to highlight the various solutions and hidden problems that noise can present.
The campaign has been launched across the EU in over thirty countries. It is backed by the European Parliament Commission and Luxembourg EU Presidency. It is the sixth year the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has held its annual European Week for Safety and Health at Work, of which the campaign is a prelude. The “Stop That Noise!” campaign was launched on April 20th and the week itself runs from 24th -28th of October.
The campaign is a precursor for new legislation on noise in the workplace that will be introduced across the Union, including the UK, in February next year. The new EU directive, which is the basis for legislation introduced by member states will reduce the level of noise to which workers can be exposed and make it a requirement that employers eliminate or reduce to a minimum the risks of exposure in the workplace. The new lower limit is 87 decibels for the amount of daily exposure to noise a worker can be subjected to.
The statistics that are responsible for the current sense of urgency on this issue make it clear why a response is seen as such an essential move. The World Health Association has described noise-induced hearing loss as ‘the most prevalent, irreversible industrial disease.’ In Europe this equates to one third of the workforce, over sixty million people, who are exposed to noisy work conditions for more than a quarter of their working time. This figure alone might be fairly easy to dismiss, but forty million of those are exposed for at least half of their working time. The HSE estimates that around three quarter of a million workers in the UK are still exposed to noise levels above the new Exposure Limit Value the legislation will introduce.
Work related hearing loss is one of Europe’s most common occupational diseases, it is the cause more than a third of all people suffering from a work related disease. One study showed noise was the second largest single cause of yearly expenditure for disability pensions and rehabilitation costs. The annual European bill for dealing with hearing loss amounts to €160 million.
It isn’t just how widespread the effects of noise are that is a cause for concern, the effects themselves are more varied then most people think. Obviously the most notable outcome of exposure to noise can be lose of hearing, or even tinnitus but noise can also lead to sickness due to work related stress. Some evidence suggests that exposure to noise can result in the release of adrenaline in to the cardiovascular system, in other words the same symptoms associated with high blood pressure and stress. Another more easily understood outcome of noise is an increase in workplace accidents, where people cannot hear and communicate risks, or even are distracted. The campaign is also drawing attention to the harm noise can do to pregnant worker’s unborn children.
Noise isn’t just dangerous when it is at a continuous loud volume either, the frequency, high or low pitch, and the type of noise, if it is impulse noise or not can also be a factor.
Although the campaign is aimed at all professions where noise may be a factor (kindergarten noise can be 85Db, pig farms can be as loud as 115Db) it doesn’t take an expert to work out that construction is one industry where the risks are probably highest. Various activities and pieces of equipment are bound to create potentially damaging noise - the use of impacting tools, for example concrete breakers, in fact the use of any pneumatically powered tool and even internal combustion engines that are powering machines or running generators.
Estimating whether the level of noise in a particular situation may be damaging can start with a simple test, is it necessary to shout if you want to be understood by someone two metres away.
Beyond this more complicated tests are required by employers, including risk assessments and the implication of a series of measures to reduce noise. It is in this area where anyone supplying tools to the trade may want to take attention.
The rules require that an employer prioritises noise control in this order: where possible eliminate the risk of noise; control the noise at source; reduce worker exposure by work organisation and workplace measures; only provide PPE as a final resort, when all other measures are impossible.
Obviously this means that as companies come to update tools and equipment they will be taking an extra interest in those that are quietest. The days when just giving your workforce a hefty pair of ear defenders was the only way to deal with noise would seem to be well and truly numbered. In fact the EU safety and health people and the HSE recommend giving employees a choice of PPE so that they can opt for what is most comfortable or suited to their needs, for example ear muffs of ear plugs.
All this suggest a potential growing market, not only for quieter tools but also for additional equipment that will enable noisy work to be carried out in sound deadened areas.
All this is just an ongoing development of information we have known for a number of years, but the campaign will help to improve things by pooling information and clarifying what the situation is.
For more information visit the website: http://ew2005.osha.eu.int
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Airstream Communications