How the Law Came into Being (A bit of History)

The EU Physical Agents Directive travelled a long and tortuous path, starting in 1993 as a proposal to deal with a multitude of ‘agents’, which were noise, vibration, optical radiation and non-optical electromagnetic fields. This idea was short lived due to clear problems with trying to put all that information into one document. In 1999, sense prevailed and the vibration element was split out into a separate directive. In 2001, a proposal for the Noise part was put forward. The other bits are lagging behind somewhat although there is movement on the optical radiation directive!

Eventually, through committee after committee and draft after draft, we are given the Physical Agents (Noise) and the Physical Agents (Vibration) Directives, with which the member states must lay down legislation within a given time. The Vibration directive became law in June 2005 whilst the Noise Regulations will be with us in April 2006. It is the latter that will be dealt with in this article, which looks at some of the main changes and what they mean. It is by no means comprehensive and is no substitute for reading the regulations and guidance in full or attending a competence training course.

Conclusions

The changes brought by this new set of regulations are not necessarily profound (apart from the 68% level change!). There is, however al lot of detail and many small changes from the existing position, which require care in implementation. The guidance on regulations from the HSE should be read and digested and it may well be wise to attend a ‘Competent Person’ training course for Noise at Work assessments.

This legislation is written from the point of view of the HSE, whose primary concern (and rightly so) is with the protection of employees who are exposed to excessive noise levels. What they are not concerned with (and they will happily confirm this, if asked) is civil litigation. In other words, as long as an employer is taking enough action in the eyes of the HSE to prevent people going deaf whilst at work, they will be happy. Fair enough! The problem is that this may well not be enough to mitigate any claims that come along in the future!

Further Reading

Controlling Noise at Work: The Control of Noise at Work Regulations – Guidance on Regulations, HSE Books.

Directive 2003/10/EC on the Minimum Health and Safety Requirements Regarding the Exposure of Workers to the Risks Arising from Physical Agents (Noise). Available form the E.U. web site at http://europa.eu/ (type 2003/10/EC into search)

Proposals for new Control of Noise at Work Regulations Implementing the Physical Agents (Noise) Directive (2003/10/EC). Available on the HSE web site at http://www.hse.gov.uk/.