Health & Safety Enforcement Policy (under review)
View West Dunbartonshire Council's Health & Safety Enforcement Policy. (N.B. This policy document does not include the various appendices which are operational documents in themselves).
View West Dunbartonshire Council's Health and Safety Service Plan (2007 Revision).
Safe and Healthy Working
The Safe and Healthy Working website provides a useful source of confidential, high-quality occupational health and safety advice, guidance and support.
If you would like further information on this topic, please visit Scotland's Health at Work website or telephone 01389 738627/738652 for further advice.
Noise at Work Regulations 2005 – Music and Entertainment
In April 2008 the existing regulations protecting workers in the music and entertainment sectors from exposure to excessive noise were replaced by the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. For other industry sectors these Regulations have been in force since April 2006. The European Directive on which the Regulations are based allowed the music and entertainment sectors a two-year transitional period. This recognised that music is unusual as it is noise deliberately created for enjoyment and therefore practical guidelines will be necessary to help workers, employers and freelancers in the music and entertainment sectors protect their hearing and safeguard their careers.
Music and entertainment sectors are defined in the Noise Regulations as all workplaces where a) live music is played or b) recorded music is played in a restaurant, bar, public house, discotheque or nightclub, or alongside live music or a live dramatic or dance performance.
The Regulations require employers to:
- Assess the risk to their employees from noise at work;
- Take action to reduce the noise exposure that produces those risks;
- Provide their employees with hearing protection if they cannot reduce the noise exposure enough by using other methods;
- Make sure the legal limits on noise exposure are not exceeded;
- Provide their employees with information, instruction and training;
- Carry out health surveillance where there is a risk to health.
Noise at work can cause hearing loss that can be temporary or permanent. People often experience temporary deafness after leaving a noisy place. Although hearing recovers within a few hours, this should not be ignored. It is a sign that if you continue to be exposed to the noise your hearing could be permanently damaged. Permanent hearing damage can be caused immediately by sudden, extremely loud, explosive noises, e.g. from guns or cartridge-operated machines.
But hearing loss is usually gradual because of prolonged exposure to noise. It may only be when damage caused by noise over the years combines with hearing loss due to ageing that people realise how deaf they have become. This may mean their family complains about the television being too loud, they cannot keep up with conversations in a group, or they have trouble using the telephone. Eventually everything becomes muffled and people find it difficult to catch sounds like ’t’, 'd' and 's', so they confuse similar words.
Hearing loss is not the only problem. People may develop tinnitus (ringing, whistling, buzzing or humming in the ears), a distressing condition which can lead to disturbed sleep.
Futher Information
Guidance for the music and entertainment sector on the new Noise at Work Regulations is available on the Health and Safety Executive website: www.hse.gov.uk/noise/musicsound.htm
