Posted By Dave Daniel
Noise and the Worker was a Department of Employment publication which set out for the first time in a widely available Government publication the fact that noise caused deafness and could and should be controlled. Measures recommended included quieting noisy machinery and wearing earplugs, including at the time I think wax plugs, as the science was in its infancy. I no longer have a copy.

There was no specific legislation at the time nor indeed prior to the current Regulations.

1963 is as a result taken as the "date of knowledge" at which employers ought to have been aware of noise and the need to take action, although in the then Austin Motor Company, the work of my colleague Gerry Lee (BOHS President for a time) in the early 1960s' to measure noise at Longbridge resulted in settlements of claims preceding this date within this factory. A noise meter at that time was mounted on a tea trolley and powered by a 12v car battery and mains inverter on the bottom shelf. I recall the photograph well!

Regards

Dave Daniel