Rank: Forum user 
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The company I work for has Service Engineers who visit Clients premises to conduct installation, servicing, commissioning and repair work. The majority of sites have Hearing Protection signage indicating protection must be worn. Is the client obliged to supply us with the results of their noise survey/assessment, or is it sufficient they indicate their Noise Protection Zones?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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... or is it sufficient they indicate their Noise Protection Zones?
IMHO I'd of thought it was suffice that they were indicating that they recognise there's a noise problem and require anyone entering the signed area to wear hearing protection and having done such your guys are obligated to follow suit.
Badger
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I agree with Barry
You might also consider if your people need health surveillance (annual hearing tests)
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I would tend to agree also- the company is aware of the risk and have measures in place to control the issue/potential consequence of the issue, perhaps though they can pre-warn that hearing protection will be required in certain zones? Then you can provide your guys with their own or at least they can be aware it will be required.
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Rank: Forum user 
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We have a number of sites with Noise Protection Zones, at the entrance (s) to each zone we provide suitable disposable ear plugs. No one is allowed into our zones without using hearing protection.
We don't pass the details of our risk assessment to all contractors who are required to enter the zones.
Geoff
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks for all the replies. The reason for asking is to ensure the hearing protection we supply is suitable, but we can only make that judgement if we know the actual noise level, i.e. 80db, 85db, 90db, having a sign saying protection is required is OK, but does not convey the whole picture.
Our guys are supplied with helmet mounted ear defenders (muffs), and they can also use the Client supplied disposable foam plugs if needed - the client supplies them as they must be metal detectable (we work in the food processing industry).
This issue was raised because it had been identified that health surveillance could be also needed (it just open up a can of worms that need to be sorted).
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Rank: Forum user
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Good point. No harm in asking the Client for specific information to ensure that the correct protection is being provided for your staff, particularly for situations where daily noise exposire times could be lengthy. Although, if the Client is supplying disposable ear plugs for use then it should be the case that these are a suitable level of protection. Provision of over the ear hearing protection may provide higher attenuation values than plugs, (as will the use of plugs and over the ear protection together) and if this were the case, a possible issue is over specifying / over protecting which in itself can introduce other risks.
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Rank: Forum user 
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I would ask to see the RA, must noise assessments are time weighted generally and your working arrangements may differ from the sites. You could always conduct your own.
Regards
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Rank: Forum user 
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As walker says, as you know your staff are being exposed to noise levels in excess of 80db on a regular basis, you do need to have your engineers hearing tested on a regular basis, most likely annually. This may protect you from potential NIHL claims in the future.
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