The Control of Noise Regs give good guidance on what needs to be included in the information, instruction and training. It's best to be prepared with the arrangements for audiometry and how the results will be analysed, how hearing protection will be selected etc. I also include examples of what hearing loss sounds like (mp3 files are available for download from the HSE website), and of the effect of relevant noise control, e.g. damping or reverberation control. You may also be asked why they weren't told earlier....

I would arrange a meeting, possibly off site, with a selection interested parties such as a supervisor, union rep, etc where the evidence and circumstances can be discussed in convivial surroundings. At this stage you want to break the news as gently as possible to prevent any emotive or aggressive behaviours. It may be necessary to arrange further meetings or one-to-one meeting with staff who have concerns.

Must be some size kitchen or a small one with a lot of noise! I hope the survey analysis has considered not only the noise level but duration of exposure and frequency. A few variables to be considered.

Hello again. I'm afraid that I disagree with zimmy (apart from the need to be honest). The main use of health surveillance is to be able to monitor any changes to the hearing of the whole group of workers. Sending them to their own individual doctors won't help achieve this, apart from the fact that any hearing checks would be sporadic and variable, depending on local NHS funding constraints at the time. With the previous Noise Regs, the HSE claimed that there was no need to include a health surveillance requirement because audiometry was freely available on the NHS. This resulted in the UK being hauled in front of the European Court. The current regs and guidance are free to download http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l108.htm Part 6 (p87) describes the requirements and benefits of health surveillance .