Noise at work policy

With recent changes to noise legislation, it makes sense to have a policy in place that clarifies your legal duties as the employer. Ours can easily be modified to suit your own particular needs.

Noise at work policy

As a result of the more stringent requirements laid down in the new Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (CNWR), it’s a good time to introduce a Noise at Work Policy. It sets out your duties under these regulations, as well as what you can reasonably expect from employees in terms of helping you comply. It contains ten key sections, which, in line with our other policies, can easily be modified or extended to fit the needs of your own business.

Legal position

The first two sections set out a general introductory statement and briefly define how the system of decibels (dB(A)) works. However, it’s the third section that’s most the important one as it sets out the new legal requirements of both the “lower exposure action value” of 80dB(A) and the “upper exposure action value” of 85dB(A).

Employers’ legal duties

With the exception of section eight which covers employee duties, most of this sample policy focuses on what’s expected from you as the employer. This ranges from providing an overview of your duties under section four to setting out your risk assessment obligations under section five. Another key section is the sixth, which looks at the most common types of control measures that will help you in complying with CNWR, e.g. by introducing engineering controls which avoids metal-on-metal impacts. Section seven concerns hearing protection and states that where noise levels can’t be sufficiently reduced to below an average of 87dB, hearing protection will be issued to staff. The last two sections set out your policy on providing training and health surveillance.