I'm surprised it has taken so long. I hope it is sanctioned, then again I don't tend to listen to much music unless I'm in the car and I can't get a Talksport reception. It makes sense to me, as I find it annoying having to listen to other people's noise if sat next to them. I also agree that the quality of headphones is a big problem. It will be interesting to see how it progresses.

MP3 players are prohibited on our factory floor for safety reasons and now we are going to prohibit them in the offices. Our MD does not like to see employees 'plugged in' - he feels they should be able to interact with colleagues, answer their calls etc. Equally IMO if employees are using MP3 players we have a duty under the noise at work regs? They are at work, exposed to unmeasured levels of noise for often hours at a time - should an employee get NIHL we could be liable as we cannot of course get them to sign a disclaimer. Be interested in your thoughts before we write our policy!!!

But surely you could use that argument for just about anything. Using that theory you would be in favour of legalising every drug, and justify people killing themselves based on the fact it is personal choice. I am all for freedom of rights etc but there is a legal reponsibility for protection from damaging noise levels within the workplace, setting the default level to 85dB would seem logical to me - the option to make it louder would be there (out of working hours) but you would need to go out of your way to do so.

The first question I'd ask is do the headphones interfere with their ability to do the job safely (either from a "not hearing warnings" or a "distraction" point of view). There will be many to whom this applies and for them I'd ban headphones, whatever bit of technology they're connected to. If an MP3 compromises a person's ability to do their job effectively (but without affecting safety), that's between them and their manager and not something I'd get involved in as an H&S person. Other than that, unless listening to an MP3 is a work-related activity, then any noise they're exposed to through it isn't a result of a work activity. I struggle to think that any court would hold an employer liable for hearing problems caused by an employee listening to their own choice of music, at a volume set by themselves, on a piece of equipment they've provided themselves, just because it happened in working hours. Apart from anything else, if that employee claimed they'd been listening to music at 90dBA in working hours, I'd challenge them to prove that they weren't doing the same thing in their own time - and that it was definitely the "working hours" listening that was responsible. Putting my headphones on right now...got a nice bit of Dire Straits to listen to today...

I agree with jwk. People who choose to listen to personal headphones at work are doing so of their own accord - They aren't being unnecesarily exposed to it as part of their job. I don't think that this practice should be banned unless there are safety, productivity issues or another policy which would ban them. Surely 'volenti non fit injuria' should apply here.