Hear today, and tomorrow

Feedback from the second in our new series of handbooks Noise at Work has suggested that noise is one of the most challenging issues to manage in many readers' workplaces. Several of you got in touch, not just to say that you found the handbook useful, but also to voice your frustration about how difficult a hazard this can be to control without enlisting extensive, and sometimes expensive, external support.

While the handbook was designed to equip you with an easy-to-use reference guide to noise management, two articles in May's HSM will hopefully provide further useful reading for those grappling with this issue. Firstly James Tingay provides some pointers on what to think about when selecting noise measurement equipment (pages 54 & 55) and one time Formula 1 noise assessor David Milford makes some startling comparisons between the noise exposure of those working on professional motorsport tracks and recycling collectors; the worrying difference between the two being that you will rarely see anyone working at a Formula 1 race without hearing protection but you may well frequently see recycling collectors without any (page 52).

If the hearing protection of some recycling collectors is being overlooked then this is particularly significant in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling on the issue of hearing loss due to industrial noise exposure in the 1980s (full story page 6). While in this case the court decided in favour of the employers due to the timing of the exposure (ie. before the introduction of the Noise at Work Regulations 1989) the case serves to illustrate how ready people are to seek compensation for work-related hearing loss and how they are no longer willing to accept hearing loss as an inevitable part of the ageing process. A quick internet search of the terms “hearing loss” and “compensation” gives an indication to what extent. In fact according to the the World Health Organization, excessive noise is the biggest compensatable occupational hazard in many countries. The good news is that there has been a surge of innovation in this area so employers have a growing bank of resources to call upon to help them manage this issue. For example Sperian's VeriPro, a device which makes it easier to get an accurate 'real world' picture of the attenuation that an employee is getting from their earplugs was the winner of last year's BSIF Innovation Awards and there have been several other noise management related innovations come on to the market in the past year. Visit hsmsearch.com to find more details of these products.

On the subject of our website, we are currently looking into enhancing our web offering and would value your insight. We've designed a short survey which is available at www.surveymonkey.com/s/hsmreadersurvey so if you haven't done so already, please take part and you could be in with the chance of winning an ipod Touch - just don't play it too loud.

Georgina Bisby
Editor
HSM
gbisby@western-bp.co.uk