Hi All,

What's your thoughts on allowing a radio to be played at work. Our current Noise measurements range from 79.9 dB(A) to 87.1dB(A) (depending where it's being measuring on site) with the radio on, duration of exposure is approx' 7 hours. It is a mandatory hearing protection zone with 38 Injection moulding machines running.

I have implemented a maintenance program to reduce noise by installing pressure regulators / flow controllers, but left the radio on.

Leave radio to improve moral or remove ??????????? Thoughts please.

I am not convinced that a radio, unless it is some sort of monster sound system can make that much difference to the noise levels in factory setting.  Remember the dB scale is logarithmic, so to increase the dB level by 3 (and a bit) requires you to double the noise level.

Leave the radio on and let people enjoy it. As long as it is not interfering with work or accidents rates have gone up since the radio due to leack of concentration it's fine.

What would of heppened in an officer and a gentleman if the radio was turned off, the end wouldn't of been half as good.

I obviously differ from the others here and have recently faced this in my place of work. Noise levels must be kept below mandatory levels, regardless of it being an unwelcome noise or a welcome one. A claim can be raised by anyone and your test results will back it up, its simply illeagal to allow it.

Noise attenuating ear defenders will allow people to work safely, here conversations and alarms. I cannot see how replacing one noise with another is a good idea. Any shouts to get out the way, fire alarms, horns etc will simply be diluted.

For me its a no I am afraid, but then I am old and very very grumpy :)

in addition, how can you reduce the people's exposure to the environment, do the machines need constant attention or could they self load and clear? how have you evaluated people have to be there all the time, are there methods of replicating what they need to see or hear to check performance?   

could supervision be done with cameras, microphones for particular noises and recorded for re-play so reducing the liklihood of needing to be there to some inspection regieme and maintenance rather than all the time?

are there quiet areas that the guys could retreat to which could be better insulated if you can't do the machine room as easily so yo can reduce the noise in those areas too, perhaps with a radio in there rather than on the floor, although the radio will affect dosimeter records and the effect of the quiet room to the noise in the environment.

hse say ppe is for when everything else has failed, and as such it seems there could be lots of areas to go as far as possible. 

in addition there are plastic curtains avaialable - don't know if they would assist in reducing the travel and flow of noise waves in the room, perhaps also look at the walls for ideas as to how to lower reflections and or double glazed window units for observation,

try also to think in layers for insulation, like a jacket or heating system, could be multiple small layers are better than fewer ones with more insulation. 

as a suggestion, you may find a visual representation of the noise could help in testing - some of the microphones supplied come with mixing software and could setup a mic and computer then conduct tests with a visual reference point to make it more of an engineering challenge to your staff rather than a hse imposed problem.

They could then conduct tests with different materials you have to hand or available locally and or use the forming machines to create the ideal shape to the panel, material and coat it with expanding foam, then another similar layer glued together, then test impacts of different materials on the noise coming to the microphone as you attach to the areas on the machine? 

don't forget the feet, the floor and isolation of parts not needing to be attached, or that could be attached to the floor seperately. 

do you have vibraton meters similar to havi that could place on areas to see where vibrations are bad and you could reduce? 

If you have the ability to measure the noise levels yourself, why not take readings with and without radio playing in strategic areas, and see what difference it makes.

If it makes no real difference then move on, if it does then possibly look at other controls as suggested. However, if you have problem machines then in order for the radio to be heard then it’s going to have to be loud.

Chris

Originally Posted by: Bigmac1

And dont forget your licence to play music, and I am serious

These people are bandits. They define “public” performance very widely. In one case a supermarket, on Teesside I believe, was approached by them because the Tannoy announcer would sometimes sing on the PA system to entertain staff and shoppers.  In another they persuaded a police force to cough up thousands as the coppers might turn on their car radios and people on the street might hear the music making it a public performance. They once approach a spin-off company on a site where I worked and wanted to establish if staff were allowed radios at work. I said they could try to find out but pointed out that the site I worked on was a government run establishment with 20 foot electrified fence all the way around guarded 24/7 with a direct line to the police who not take kindly to anyone trying to gate-crash the site. They gave up.

Note they do not have a statutory right of entry, so if your workplace is not accessible to the general public they can’t come on and they can’t listen to the music, which you may or may not be playing.

Originally Posted by: watcher

I love how a simple question - radio or remove - has turned into a tutorial on how to measure noise :-)

It's a wonder of this forum.

 And I still can't see how a little radio significantly can add to the level of noise on a production line!

What you really need to do is to find out what the individual contribution of each piece of equipment (and the bleeding radio!) is to the overall noise level. I suspect that unless the machines are all exactly the same model and exactly the same age and state of repair there will be considerable variation between them in the level of noise the create. Choose the noisiest and deal with them first. I doubt the radio makes much difference but at least you can turn it down!