We use iPads on our construction site and recently been challenged on a request to purchase a proper noise meter comparing the costs against the price of an app. Am I being reasonable for requesting a noise meter and meet the requirement or is the site operations justified in an app at a very competitive £1.49 that checks for peak exposure and daily averaged noise exposure.

mudmuppet The Apps should only be used as an indicator and not for accurate testing, any 'noise at work assessments' should be performed with at least a Class 2 noise meter which can display LAeq and C Peak. The apps I have used also show approx 3dB lower (Half volume) so I would be very weary using these applications for workplace testing. If purchasing costly equipment is an issue, have you considered hiring it instead? it work out around £20-£30 a day and will come with Calibration certificates for the sound level meter and calibrator. See: http://www.noisemeters.c...k/hire/detail/cel244.asp which is also a useful site. Cheers , Adam

These things are toys. No competent person would contemplate their use I'd consider it highly unprofessional to measure any safety significant inputs with anything other than a suitable calibrated measuring device. Sorry if that sounds pompous

Quite agree Even your QA system should pick up on the fact you are using un calibrated measuring instuments. As for any hint of using them for serious work upon which to defend a hearing loss claim etc, you would get laughed out of court.

You might want to consider a kit with dose badges. These can be attached to workers in the area so that you can obtain a time weighted assessment specific to the tasks that they are involved in over a working day. I hired one of these kits (£156 for the week) The equipment includes software on a disc that you can download on to your computer. Each badge data can be downloaded producing graphs of the noise levels throughout the day. There were 5 badges and a calibrator and with a bit of forward planning you can cover a lot of activities in a week. Cheers Jim

Thank you Everyone, The response is valued.

That's all well and good David but suppose it works the other way. I just tried one of these apps this morning in a Warehouse. The app showed a reading of 91 and the meter indicated 79. Accepting that a difference of 3db is double the noise level that is an outrageous error

But, he can clearly show that his kit has been calibrated and showing a correct reading, whereas yours.................enough said I think.