Importance of Controlling Noise in the Workplace

Noise at “Crowded Restaurant” Level Is Harmful

If you do, you may be surprised to learn that the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) guidance on unacceptable noise levels at work includes the “crowded restaurant” test as a question that people should be asking themselves about noise in their working environment. We all tend to associate noise damage with industries like construction. But sometimes these industries are better at assessing the problem and providing solutions such as ear defenders.

Yet the HSE is clear that if noise is intrusive – at the level of a busy street, a crowded restaurant or a vacuum cleaner – for most of the day, it could damage employees’ hearing in the long term. Many people working at desk jobs could be in danger of damaging their hearing because the excess noise, while not as bad as, say, a power tool, goes on longer. The same goes for server noise in data centres. So controlling noise in the workplace is vital for employee health.

This level of noise can markedly affect people’s concentration and lower their productivity. In an industrial environment it can also be dangerous – an operator may not hear a shouted warning or an alarm.

Noise and Sound Are Different Things

Different people react differently to noise, too. Some people can hear much higher-pitched noises than others, and some people can live with high-frequency noise at a level that other people find intolerable.

As mentioned above, one way of controlling noise is to reduce the ability of the human ear to receive it by using earplugs or headsets. But suppose the noise is in a call centre, where people need to hear a call and respond? Ear defenders reduce noise but are not a practical solution in this kind of environment. That’s where barriers and enclosures come in.

Barriers and enclosures can be used to reflect the noise and send it somewhere else or to absorb it. In an industrial environment, barriers are often used to tackle the sound at its source or to contain it in specific areas. These are often large installations or part of the infrastructure of a site or facility.

But in offices, call centres, schools and restaurants, a more scalable solution has to be found. Frequently, acoustic panels having acoustic doors & windows are used. Suspended from the ceiling or forming barriers in an open-plan office space, these can absorb sound, reducing the level of background noise. However, it’s important to get an expert company to come in to assess the problem and make recommendations, because it’s possible to waste money if non-specialists try to design a solution they think will work. They frequently don’t know enough about the science of both sound and hearing or noise control in the workplace to prescribe an effective solution.

When it comes to controlling noise in the workplace, a well-designed and economic solution will markedly improve the working environment and reduce employee stress.