Posted By Paul Oliver Following the reduction of noise action levels, does the 2m rule still apply or will this distance have to reduced aswell??????

Posted By Tabs It's not even a good rule :-) it is what experienced people tend to say - but it is quite unreliable. Look at the hearing loss - v - age and you will see that the 'rule' would be invoked much earlier by a 50 year old, than a 21 year old. In theory, the 21 year old could be in danger of hearing loss... Buy a reasonably priced sound level meter and use that to indicate whether a full survey is required.

Posted By Paul Oliver I know its only a guide. I didn't become a Chartered member by pulling a xmas cracker. However, personnel working on some sites (construction) don't carry £100's or £1000's worth of noise meters with them and so it is quite a usefull guide for a trades person.

Posted By Peter Leese Paul, I know exactly where you are coming from, I feel the same way when posting on this forum. I'll have to remember the Christmas cracker one, I'm laughing as I type this. Have a good christmas

Posted By Davelfc Paul, Like this Xmas cracker aswell giving Merv a bit of competition in the written humour stakes. I am of the same opinion as previous If I to am in, and if I have too raise my voice to someone one metre away then I have a look at additional controls, can we screen or move the process where it can be enclosed or other noise reduction or do we practically just have to rely on the usual ear protection, more easily controlled when we have cladded and partitioned for obvious reasons. David Smeatham HSE master on HAVS & Noise I have heard him speak a couple of times very practical man. Not wishing to quote of course when I last heard him speak he was also saying similar as a practical initial assessment and then if it is a problem then additional monitoring will be required, especially in changing environment such as construction. Hope above helps still laffin! at the Xmas Cracker might use that one at the next safety review meeting, might even put in as an agenda point. Dave

Posted By Al Beevers Paul, If you're looking for a good way to quickly check noise levels, I remember reading in SHP (October '06 I think) about a device called "oi!". It just made a noise at exactly 80dB. Press it in a room, and if you can't hear it's pitch, then the noise levels in that room are over 80dB. Simple. Cost was a few quid. Al.

Posted By Tony Brunskill Its a rule of thumb and mentioned in the guidance but to fail to safe you should increase the distance not decrease it.