Dear All,

I have a query if anyone could provide me some clarification it would be greatly appreciated. I working on the behalf of my employer who is acting as a client on a large ground reclamation project which entails a significant amount of piling works. We have appointed a principal contractor who is undertaking the piling works who will be managing the working activity and directly associated risks.

My query is that we have a channel leading into a marina in which various commercial and public vessels come and go (which is my employers responsibility to maintain) and will have to proceed along a narrow channel adjacent to the works, worse case within 10 meters of some of the piling works in which the noise output is significant. Generally the noise data we have, envisage to be around 107 dB(a) but could be more or less depending on the ground conditions when driving a pile.

Checking the Noise at work Regs it appears that we don’t necessarily need to protect the vessel owners (members of public) however section 3 of the HSAWA places duties on my employer not to affect other parties.

My employer and contractor doesn’t wish to do anything as they are of the belief the exposure would only be for a matter of minutes, I’m not comfortable with a do nothing approach as we also have a moral obligation. I have also spoken to our legal and insurance departments who also believe if we were to issue hearing protection to the vessel owners to safely pass we are opening ourselves up to all sorts of liability issues, especially given that some vessels may have families with children on board.

Our only other option if we can’t issue hearing protection to the vessel owners is to shut the channel and therefore minimize exposure which is not favorable by either commercial vessel owners but this will also be problematic to anyone running low on fuel.

Whilst I appreciate that if we were undertaking piling works in city areas members of public can typically cross the road to reduce their exposure, however allowing vessels along the channel area will leave them no where else to go.

If my employer was to purchase a large number of hearing defenders and issue them to the vessels owners would we be meeting our duty of care or getting into an area outside of our legal duty?

Could you not put up some sort of screen or barrier between the waterway and piling activities (eg a wall of straw bales). This could help absorb some of the sound and reduce the noise levels experienced by third parties. Alternatively, can the piles be augered in to place rather than being driven in, thereby reducing the noise at source?  

Hello

Might be worth looking at BS 5228-2:2009+A1:2014 that covers Noise and vibration control on construction and open sites. (Code of practice for noise and vibration control applicable to piling operations )

Section 2 in the standard contains recommendations relating to noise control and Section 3 contains recommendations for the mitigating of the effects of ground-borne vibration.

Edited by user 05 May 2017 00:08:09(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Where are you getting 107 dB(a). Is this at the rig itself? I remember reading a study on this when we thought we may have issues. The conclusion of the study is that noise levels noticeably drop as you move away from the rig and are significantly reduced by anything in the path of the sound waves, for example hoarding, plant, welfare, topography of the site. This includes the rig itself and by facing the rig away from the waterway may be enough. It is impossible to predict so you may have to get out there with a sound meter. I cannot find the study!