Exposure to high levels of noise greater than 80dB will result in damage to your hearing.

Short Term Exposure: May cause temporary mild deafness or result in damage to the hair cells in the ears causing permanent hearing loss.

Intense Impulse Noise: May rupture the eardrum or damage the small bones in the ear.

What does the Law Say?

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 states that if the noise levels in the workplace exceed 80dB (Lower Exposure Action Value), hearing protection must be available on request. If the noise levels exceed 85dB (d even when Upper Exposure Action Value), the provision and wearing of hearing protection in mandatory. An exposure limit of 87dB has been introduced, this levels of noise must not be exceeded even when wearing ear protection.

What Protection Do I Need?

The SNR (Single Number Rating) indicates how much protection a product will give in a noisy environment. For example if your working environment is about 100dB using ear protection like the MOLDEX ‘Spark Plugs’ with an SNR of 35 will reduce the noise for the wearer to about 65dB, well below the legal requirement. Ear defenders are more effective when protecting against high frequency sound and it is easy to overestimate the performance of ear defenders against low frequency noise.

How Can Hearing Protection Be Used Effectively?

Do:- Make sure the protectors give enough protection – aim at least to get below 85dB at the ear. Target the use of protectors to the noisy tasks and jobs in a working day. Select protectors which are suitable for the working environment – consider how comfortable and hygienic they are. Think about when they will be worn with other protective equipment (e.g. hard hats, dust masks and eye protection). Provide a range of protectors so that employees can choose ones which suit them.

Don’t:- Provide protectors that cut out too much noise – this can cause isolation, or an unwillingness to wear them. Make the use of hearing protectors compulsory where the law doesn’t require it. Have a ‘blanket’ approach to hearing protection – better to target its use and only encourage people to wear it when they need to.

What about Maintenance?

You will need to make sure that hearing protection works effectively and check that:- It remains in good, clean condition- Earmuff seals are undamaged- Tension of the headbands is not reduced- There are no unofficial modifications- Compressible earplugs are soft, pliable and clean

What FFP do I Need