Posted By Les Fullwood Has anybody had any experience of conducting audiiometric testing in a call centre environment? I have recently taken over as Health & Safety Manager for a company that has a few call centres scattered around the UK. I am about to carry out a risk assessment of the activity and noise will be an area that I have to cover off. As part of the risk assessment I would have thought I would need to access the noise level in the call centre to ascertain whether health surveillance was required, does that sound right? Under the new regs, staff exposed to noise levels between or above the action levels would be subject to health surveillance. Any assistance or guidance that you can offer would be greatly appeciated.

Posted By henrys There is advice on the HSE website regarding call centres and it includes noise. http://www.hse.gov.uk/LAU/lacs/94-1.htm#specific

Posted By David-J-Jones Les As we have recently generated a call centre. We have arranged audiometric testing in order to generate a starting point for each person. Equipment is as recommended ie peak filtration to control sound levels. Risk assessments were based on the hela guidance document that Henrys mentions. Advice on review period was suprising, we expected initial twelve months then probably three - five years, medical advice was three years for first review.

Posted By Andy Graham-Cumming I must declare an interest. I am the medical director of the Acoustic Safety Programme. The majority of call centres are unlikely to provide an environment where noise doses exceed the lower exposure action value defined in The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. There is likely to be a substantial minority where the LEAV is exceeded, and a small number (possibly up to 10%) where the UEAV is exceeded by some but not all employees. The chances of breaching the exposure limit value are very small indeed. You also need to take into account the very large proportion of part-time workers whose noise dose will fall well below the level calculated on the basis of a 40-hour week. Call centre headsets that comply with European standards should not pass sound pressure levels above 118dB which is well below the level associated with immediate acoustic trauma, although a very few cases of temporary (less than 1 year) hearing loss have been seen. Pure tone audiometry has limited relevance in the call centre environment other than as protection for the employer. If somebody leaves work with abnormal audiometry it is best to be able to show that they started out that way. If noise doses in a call centre are below the LEAV there is no need to undertake audiometry for hearing conservation purposes - it is a complete waste of money. DO NOT HOWEVER CONFUSE HEARING LOSS DUE TO NOISE EXPOSURE WITH ACOUSTIC SHOCK They are completely different conditions. There is a very poor understanding of acoustic shock syndrome among ENT surgeons, audiologists and occupational health service providers. This is largley because it doesn't fit in with the general understanding of how hearing works, hence the need for research in this area.