It’s often assumed that exposure to excessive noise levels and the risk of industrial deafness in the workplace were mostly problems of the past, which have been largely eliminated.

Since the Factories Acts of 1959, the Noise at Work Regulations 1990 and The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2006, employers have been given key responsibility to make the workplace safe as far as reasonably practicable.

Unfortunately, cases of noise induced hearing loss continue to this day, despite legislation, awareness campaigns by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), advances in hearing protection available and the constant number of company employers brought to court for not protecting their workforce from excessively noisy machinery.

Even as recently as the 1980s and 1990s, machine operators working in textile manufacturing factories located in the Cheshire area, were still required to work in close proximity to loud machinery.

A recent court case highlighted how one textile worker only realised years later that his deteriorating hearing loss was due to former working conditions when a colleague at the same factory began to notice a similar loss of hearing.

Working in loud factory environments was often accepted at the time, more often than not because hearing protection was not made available, and employees would become accustomed to the constant background sound levels, even though symptoms such as temporary hearing loss and tinnitus would be experienced. The full extent of the hearing damage inflicted would only come to light up to ten years later when the victim takes a hearing test.

Today, ear defenders – often attached to hardhat headgear – ear plugs and designated noise zones are more commonly available wherever noisy machinery is located. Sound level monitoring and risk assessment checks should form part of a responsible company policy. However, still too many instances are reported where the mandatory regulations are not being met.

For any man or woman who works in a manufacturing or industrial unit who is concerned over noise levels and a possible health risk, a general guide is if you have to shout to make yourself heard by someone about six feet away (two metres) away the noise level could be dangerous. An average conversation will generally reach around 60 dBA while busy street noise can peak at 80 to 90 dBA.

Prolonged exposure to levels over 80 dBA can cause hearing damage. The risk increases as the sound level rises, so extremely high levels reaching 140 dBA, which occur when close to a sudden explosive noise ( acoustic trauma), can cause immediate injury to the unprotected ear.